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- DOGMATIC THEOLOGY 
XII 


THE POHLE-PREUSS SERIES OF DOG- 
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ESCHATOLOGY 


OR 


THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF 
THE LAST THINGS 


A DOGMATIC TREATISE = (7 
BY | SOCUGICA & 


THE RT. REV. MSGR. JOSEPH POHLE, Pu.D.,D.D. 


FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY AT 
ST. JOSEPH’S SEMINARY, LEEDS (ENGLAND), 
LATER PROFESSOR OF APOLOGETICS 
AT THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 
OF AMERICA 


ADAPTED AND EDITED 
BY 


ARTHUR PREUSS 


THIRD, REVISED EDITION 


B. HERDER BOOK CO. 


17 SoutH Broapway, St. Louis, Mo. 
AND 
68, GREAT RussELt St., Lonpon, W. C. 


1920 


NIHIL OBSTAT 


Sti. Ludovici, die 27 Feb. 1920 
F. G. Holweck, 
Censor Librorum. 


IMPRIMATUR 


Sti. Ludovici, die 28 Feb. 1920 


«Joannes J. Glennon, 
Arche piscopus, 
Stt. Ludovict. 


Copyright, 1917 


by 
Joseph Gummersbach 


All rights reserved 
Printed in U.S. A. 


First Edition, 1917 
Second Edition, 1918 
Third Edition, 1920 


BECKTOLD 
PRINTING & BOOK MFG. CO., 
ST. LOUIS, MO. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


Part I. EscHatotocy oF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL . 
Cu. I. Death 


Cu. II. The Particular Judgment . 
§ 1. Existence of a Particular Judgment . 
§2. Time of the Particular Judgment . 
Cu. ~III. Heaven NG 
§1. The Existence of buaey : 
§ 2. The Properties of Heaven . 
Cu. IV. Hell 


§1. The Existence of Hell 
§2. Nature of the Punishment . 
§ 3. Characteristics of the Pains of Hell 


Cu. V. Purgatory . 


§1. The Existence of Peete : 4 
§ 2. Nature and Duration of Purgatory . 
§ 3. Succoring the Dead . : 


w 


Part II. EscHatotocy oF THE HUMAN RACE . 


Cu. I. The Signs that are to Precede the Ges Tudee 
2 MEN OARO NY AN PLT as 


< I21 


ment j 
Cu. II. The Ce oak of a Flesh 


§1. Reality of the Resurrection . 
§ 2. Universality of the Resurrection . 
§ 3. Nature of the Risen Body . 


Cu. III. The Last Judgment 
§ 1. Reality of the Last Judgment . 


§ 2. Chiliasm, or the Theory of a Milleaningt ; 


INDEX . 


PAGE 


ANG 73 
Wwi32 
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- 149 
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, 161 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/eschatologyorcatOOpohl 


INTRODUCTION 


1. DEFINITION.—FEschatology is the crown 
and capstone of dogmatic theology. It may be 
defined as “the doctrine of the last things,” and 
tells how the creatures called into being and raised 
to the supernatural state by God, find their last 
end in Him, of whom, and by whom, and in 
whom, as Holy Scripture says, “are all things.” * 

Eschatology is anthropological and cosmo- 
logical rather than theological; for, though it 
deals with God as the Consummator and Uni- 
versal Judge, strictly speaking its subject is the 
created universe, 7. e. man and the cosmos. 

The consummation of the world is not left to 
“fate” (fatum, <vappevm), God is a just judge, 
who distinguishes strictly between virtue and vice 
and metes out reward or punishment to every 
man according to his deserts. The rational crea- 
tures were made without their choice; but they can 
not reach their final end without their cooperation. 
Their destiny depends upon the attitude they take 
towards the divine plan of salvation. The good 
are eternally rewarded in Heaven, the wicked are 
punished forever in Hell. In the latter God 


1 Rom. XI, 36. 
= I 


2 INTRODUCTION 


will manifest His justice, while in the former 
He will show His love and mercy. By deal- 
ing justly with both good and bad, He at the same 
time triumphantly demonstrates His omnipotence, 
wisdom, and holiness. Thus Eschatology leads 
us back to the theological principle that the cre- 
ated universe in all its stages serves to glorify 
God.? 

The consummation of the world may be re- 
garded either as in process (im fier) or as an ac- 
complished fact (in facto esse). Regarding it 
from the former point of view we speak of the 
“last things” (novissima, 7 éoxara), 7. e. the events 
to happen at the second coming of our Lord. 
“The four last things of man” are Death, Judg- 
ment, Heaven (Purgatory), and Hell.’ 

The four last things of the human race as a 
whole are: the Last Day, the Resurrection of the 
Flesh, and the Final Judgment, followed by the 
End of the World. These four events constitute 
so many stages on the way to the predestined state 
of consummation (consummatio saecult, owTé)eua 
aisvos), which will be permanent and irrevocable. 

2, Diviston.—In the light of these considera- 
tions it is easy to find a suitable division for the 
present treatise. The object of the final consum- 


2Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God the Au- mnibus operibus tuis memorare mo- 
thor of Nature and the Supernatural, vissima tua, et im aeternum non 
and ed., pp. 80 sqq., St. Louis 1916. peccabis.” 

8 Cfr. Ecclus. VII, 40: “In om- 


INTRODUCTION 3 


mation is the created universe, which consists _ 
of pure spirits, human beings, and irrational 
creatures. The lot of the spirits (angels and 
demons) was determined forever at the very be- 
ginning of things. Man and the physical uni- 
verse still await their consummation. Man, in- 
dividually as well as collectively, occupies the 
centre of creation. Hence we may divide Escha- 
tology into two parts: (1) The Eschatology of 
Man as an Individual, (2) The Eschatology of 
the Human Race. 


GENERAL READINGS :— St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Supple- 
mentum, qu. 69 sq.; Summa contra Gentiles, III, 1-63 (tr. by 
Rickaby, God and His Creatures, pp. 183-233, London 1905), and 
the commentators. | 

Mazzella, De Deo Creante, disp. 6, 4th ed., Rome 1908.— E. 
Méric, L’Autre Vie, Paris 1880; 12th ed., Paris 1900; (German 
tr., Das andere Leben, Mayence 1882).—* Card. Katschthaler, 
Eschatologia, Ratisbon 1888—F. Stentrup, S.J., Soteriologia, 
Vol. II, Innsbruck 1889.— Chr. Pesch, S.J., Praelectiones Dog- 
maticae, Vol. IX, 3rd ed., Freiburg 1911.—* Atzberger, Die 
christliche Eschatologie in den Stadien ihrer Offenbarung vm A. 
u. N. T., Freiburg 1890.— B. Tepe, S.J., Institutiones Theologicae, 
Vol. IV, pp. 680 sqq., Paris 1896.— P. Einig, De Deo Creante et 
Consummante, Treves 1898.— B. Jungmann, De Novissimis, 4th 
ed., Ratisbon 1898.—J. Royer, Die Eschatologie des Buches Job 
unter Beriicksichtigung der vorexilischen Propheten, Freiburg 
1901.— *W. Schneider, Das andere Leben; Ernst und Trost der 
christlichen Weltanschauung, toth ed., Paderborn 1910.— Card. 
Billot, S.J., Quaestiones de Novissimis, 4th ed., Rome 1918.— 
Prager, Die Lehre von der Vollendung aller Dinge, 1903.— 
Heinrich-Gutberlet, Dogmatische Theologie, Vol. X, hart) bl, 
Miinster 1904.— J. E. Niederhuber, Die Eschatologie des hl. Am- 
brosius, Paderborn 1907—J. Keel, Die jenseitige Welt, 3 vols., 
Einsiedeln 1868. sqq.— D. Palmieri, S.J.. De Novissimis, Rome 


4Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, 
8rd ed., St. Louis 1919, pp. 340 saqq. 


4 INTRODUCTION 


1908.—Wilhelm-Scannell, 4 Manual of Catholic Theology, Vol. 
Il, 2nd ed., pp. 534-560, London 1901.—S. J. Hunter, S.J., Out- 
lines of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. Ill, pp. 424-464, London 
1894.—P. J. Toner, art. “Eschatology,” in the Catholic Ency- 
clopedia, Vol. V, pp. 528-534.—W. O. E. Osterley, The Doctrine 
of the Last Things, London 1908.—M. O’Ryan, “Eschatology 
of the Old Testament,” in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol. 
XXVII, No. 509, 4th Series, pp. 472-486.—Charles, Critical His- 
tory of the Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and 
in Christianity, London 1899 (to be read with caution).—J. C; 
Sasia, S.J.; The Future Life, New York 1918 (full but uncritical), 
—B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Voir) 
St. Louis 1917, pp. 25 saq., 38 sq., 41, 43, 96 sq., 133, 148,152, 
169, 197, 202, 457 sqq—L. Labauche, S.S., God and Man, Vol. II, 
New York 1916, pp. 271 sqq.—Jos. Zahn, Das Jenseits, Pader- 
born 1916. 

For further bibliographical data see Alger, A Critical History 
of the Doctrine of the Future Life, with Complete Bibliography 
by Ezra Abbott, New York 1871. 

For the early history of Eschatology see Atzberger, Die 
Geschichte der christlichen Eschatologie innerhalb der vor- 
nizinischen Zeit, Freiburg 1896. 


PPARs el 


ESCHATOLOGY OF MAN 
AS AN INDIVIDUAL 


GEA Pik. 
DEATH 


1. DEFINITION oF Deratu.—‘“Death,”’? in 
common as well as Scriptural usage, means the 
cessation of life. 


a) There is a threefold life (physical, spiritual, and 
eternal), and hence there must be a threefold death. 

(1) Physical death consists in the separation of the 
‘body from the soul; 

(2) Spiritual death is the loss of sanctifying grace, 
caused by original or mortal sin ;? 

(3) “Eternal death” is a synonym for damnation. 
St. John® calls damnation “the second death;”* St. 
Paul, “eternal punishment,” ® “corruption,” ® “ destruc- 
tion.” 7 | 

St. Augustine says: ‘‘ Though Holy Scripture mentions 


i Mors, Odvaros. 4 Mors secunda, Sevrepos Oavaros- 
2Cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. V, 5 ’OXeOpov aiwvioy. (2 Thess. I, 
can. 2: ‘‘ peccatum quod est mors 9). 
animae,”’ 6 @Oopd. (Gal. VI, 8). 
8 Apoc. II, 11; XX, 6, 14; XXI, 8. T7’Amwdeva. (Phil. III, 19). 


5 


6 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


many deaths, there are two principal ones, namely, the 
death which the first man [Adam] incurred by sin, 
and that which the second man [Christ] will inflict 
in the judgment.”*® Here bodily death and the loss 
of sanctifying grace are comprised under one term, as an 
effect of original sin. Of course, the loss of sanctifying 
grace ® and eternal damnation can be called “ death ”’ only 
in a figurative sense. 


b) Literally death means the cessation of bod- 
ily life, caused by the separation of the soul from 
the body.” It is principally in this sense that 
Eschatology is concerned with death. 


The Biblical names for death are as various as they are 
significant. Some are derived from the symptoms that at- 
tend the separation of the soul from the body; e. g. “ disso- 
lution,” 14 ‘‘ end,” ## “ outcome,” 1° “ return to the earth,” * 
etc. Others point to original sin as the cause of death; 
for instance, “work of the devil,’ *® “the enemy,” 7° 
“ what God hath not made,” ?” etc. Belief in immortality 
is more or less evident from such phrases as “sleep,” 18 
stripping off the earthly house of habitation,’® the “ lay- 
ing away of this tabernacle,” *° going to the fathers,” 


8 Opus Imperfect. c. Iulian., VI, 6 Odvaros... xwpicuds Wux7s 
31: “ Quamvis multae mortes in- dd coHparos. 


veniantur in Scripturis, duae sunt 11) Phil; I,\ 233:2 Tim)2V; 6. 

praecipuae: prima et secunda; prima 12 Matth. X, 22. 

est quam peccando intulit primus 13 Heb. XIII, 7. 

homo [Adam], secunda est quam 14 Gen. III, 109. 

iudicando illaturus est secundus 15 John VIII, 44. 

homo [Christus].’’ 161 Cor. XV, 26. 
9‘Auapria mpds Odvarov. (Cfr. 17 Wisd. I, 13. 

1 John V, 16). 18 Job ITI, 13; Ps. XII, 4; Matth. 
10 Cfr. St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, IX, 24. 

XIII, 6: “ separatio animae a cor- LOra ih COnr aN a ietE 

pore.’— Clement of Alexandria, 202 Pet. I, 14. 


Stromata, 7 (Migne, P. G., IX, 500): 21 Gen. XV, 15 and elsewhere. 


DEATH 7 


resting from labor,”? the return of the spirit to God.2* The 
latter class of appellations is by far the most important, 
since it presupposes belief in the immortality of the soul. 
While the body decays or returns to the dust from which 
it was formed, the soul lives on for ever. Its separation 
from the body is merely temporary: at the general Resur- 
rection the two will be reunited.?4 

The state of the soul after its separation from, and 
until its reunion with, the body must not be conceived 
as an unconscious dream or a sort of semi-conscious 
“soul-sleep”” (hypnopsychy, psychopannychy), but as a 
purely spiritual life, accompanied by full consciousness 
and determined as to happiness or unhappiness by the 
result of the particular judgment held immediately after 
death.”® 


2. THE DocmMatic TEACHING OF THE CHURCH. 
—Divine Revelation teaches that: 

(1) Death is universal; 

(2) It is a result of sin; and 

(3) It ends the state of probation. 


‘ Thesis I: Death is universal. 

This proposition embodies the common teach- 
ing of Catholic theologians. 

Proof. That death is universal we know from 
experience. Furthermore reason tells us that it 
is natural for man to be separated into his constit- 
uent elements, body and soul. 

a) Physiology teaches that every body contains within 
itself the germs of dissolution and hence is doomed to die. 


22 Apoc. XIV, 13. 24V. infra, Part II, Ch. IL. 
28 Eccles. XII, 7. i 25 V. infra, Sect, 2, pp. 22 sqq. 


8 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


When death comes as the result of old age, it is called 
“natural” or “ physiological.” 2° Sacred Scripture ex- 
presses a fact of ordinary and universal experience when 
it calls death “the way of all the earth” ?’ and teaches 
that “It is appointed unto men once to die.” ?* Not 
even Christ and His Immaculate Mother were exempt 
from death. 

b) Certain exceptional cases reported in Sacred Scrip- 
ture give rise to the question whether the universality of 
death is metaphysical or merely moral, in other words, 
whether all men must die, or whether some escape the 
ordinary fate of mankind. 

a) Thus we are told that Henoch, the father of Ma- 
thusala, “‘ was translated, that he should not see death. 2 
he “walked with God, and was seen no more, because 
God took him.” *° 

Of Elias the prophet we read that, as he and his friend 
Eliseus were walking and talking together, “a fiery 
chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and 
Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” ** 

It seems certain that these two men are, as St. Augus- 
tine puts it, still “ living in the same bodies in which they 
were born.” 2 But there is no reason to suppose that 
they will escape the law of death. Since Tertullian’s 
time it has been a pious belief among Christians that 
Enoch and Elias are the two witnesses mentioned in the 
Apocalypse,** that they will reappear at the end of the 


26 Cfr. H. Kisbert, Der Tod aus 
Altersschwiche, Bonn 1908; Flint, 
Human Physiology, p. 849, New 
York 1888. 

ZU OS 4 SNL rAsee ings Fl), 

28 Heb. IX, 27: “ Statuium est 
hominibus semel mori.’”’ Cfr. Ps. 
LXXXVIII, 49: ‘“‘ Quis est homo, 
qui vivet et non videbit mortem? ” 


29 Heb. XI, 5. 

30 Cfr. Gen. V, 24; Ecclus. XLIV, 
163) NEEX, 16. 

314 Kings II, 11. 

32 De Peccato Originah, II, 24: 
“ Eliam et Henoch non dubitamus, 
in quibus nati sunt corporibus, vt- 
vere.” 

33 Apoc. XI, 3 sqq. 


DEATH 9 


world to preach penance and finally be “ overcome by the 
beast,” 2. e. die as martyrs to the faith.*# 
8B) Concerning the just who will survive on earth at 


the second coming of our Lord, St. Paul teaches: 


66 Be- 


hold I tell you a mystery: we shall not all fall asleep, 


but we shall all be changed.” * 
“We shall all rise again, but 


this passage differently: 


we shall not all be changed.” °° 


The Vulgate renders 


But the Greek text has 


in its favor the famous Vatican codex, most of the uncial 
and practically all the cursive manuscripts and vernacular 


versions.®” 


34 Cfr. Tertullian, De Anima, 50: 
“Nec mors eorum reperta est, dilata 
scil.; ceterum morituri reservantur, 
ut Antichristum sanguine suo extin- 
guontwen(Miones Panis. Lies 35) 
However, as this interpretation is 
contradicted by St. Jerome (Ep. 119 
ad Minerv. et Alex., n. 4) and oth- 
ers, it is not entirely certain. 

351 Cor. XV, 51: Ildpres wep ov 
KowunOnooueba, mavres Se adda- 
ynooueda. 

36“ Omnes quidem resurgemus, 
sed non omnes immutabimur.” 

a7 Cir (Cx Lattey,) S.J., inthe 
Appendix to the Westminster Ver- 
sion of 1 Cor.; Cornely, Comment. 
in I Cor., pp. 506 sqq., Paris 1890; 
Al, Schafer, Erklirung der beiden 
Briefe an die Korinther, pp. 334 
sqq., Miinster 1903; J. MacRory, The 
Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinth- 
tans, P. I, pp. 251 sqq., Dublin 1915. 
Speaking of the reading which we 
have adopted, Dr. MacRory (p. 252 
sq.) says: “It is supported by 
B E K L P among uncials, by 
nearly all the cursive MSS., by the 
Syriac, Coptic, Gothic versions, as 
well as by many MSS. of the 
Aethiopic; it was the reading of not 
a few Latin MSS. in the time of St. 
Jerome, and it is the reading known 


Besides, the reading we have adopted is 


to practically all the Greek Fathers. 
On the ground of external evidence, 
therefore, this reading is far the most 
probable. But internal evidence is 
almost more in its favor, for accord- 
ing to this reading (a) there is a 
mystery here, namely, that some 
shall be changed and put on im- 
mortality without passing through 
death, (b) the Apostle, as in the 
rest of the chapter, refers only to 
the just, either all the just of all 
times if we render: ‘we shall not 
all sleep’; or all the just alive at 
the Second Coming if we render: 
“none of us shall sleep’; (c) the 
connexion with the next verse is easy 
and natural: ‘we shall not all die 
but we shall all be changed in a mo- 
ment,’ etc. We take it, then, that 
this is the true reading. Nor need 
there be difficulty about admitting an 
error in our Vulgate about even a 
dogmatic text like this, the reading of 
which was uncertain not only at the 
time of the Council of Trent but 
even in the days of St. Jerome. 
Trent, indeed, binds us to receive as 
sacred and canonical the sacred 
books with all their parts, as they 
were wont to be read in the Catho- 
lic Church and are contained in the 
Old Latin Vulgate (Sess. iv, Decr. 


10 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


demanded by the context. “In the previous verse,” says 
Father Lattey, “St. Paul lays it down that the body in 
its present perishable condition cannot enter heaven. At 
once the difficulty arises about the just who are alive at 
the last day. St. Paul meets it by telling of a ‘ mystery’; 
these just, it is true, will not die, but none the less their 
bodies will have to be glorified —all the just, living or 
dead, will be changed. When the dead rise incorruptible, 
we, the living, shall be changed; our corruptible bodies 
will put on incorruption. After that supreme moment, 
death will have lost all power over man; human bodies 
will be perishable no more.” *8 

This plausible interpretation is confirmed by the fol- 
lowing passage in Saint Paul’s First Epistle to the 
Thessalonians: “For this we tell you as the Lord’s 
word, that we who live, who survive until the Lord’s 
coming, shall not precede them that are fallen asleep 
(dormierunt), ... and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first (primi, aporov). Thereupon (deinde) we the 
living, who remain, shall together with them be caught up 
(simul rapiemur cum illis) in the clouds to meet the 
Lord in the air, and thus we shall be ever with the 
Lord. 78% 

It is but fair to add, however, that these two Pauline 
texts have been variously interpreted. St. Chrysostom, 
St. Jerome, and apparently also Tertullian,*® taught that 
the just who survive on the last day shall be glorified 
without having died. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and 


de can. script.). But the Vulgate’ reading of it. (Cf. Corn., Introd. 


version of this verse was never read 
throughout the Catholic Church, be- 
ing apparently unknown in the 
East, and hence even if the single 
verse be a ‘part’ of Scripture in 
the sense intended by the Council, 
we are free to reject the Vulgate 


Gen., p. 456 ff.; Compend., p. 114 
Free Mais 

88 Cfr. C. Lattey, Appendix I to 1 
Corsi p, 52. 

891 Thess. IV, 14 sqq. 
minster Version). 

40 De Resurrectione Carnis, 41, 
42. 


(West- 


“ DEATH ri 


others held that they shall die and slumber a while before 
being summoned to the Last Judgment. The majority of 
Catholic divines, in view of St. Paul’s teaching that all 
who have sinned in Adam must die,‘ prefer to steer a 
middle course.#2, They hold that while all men must 
die, some will survive until immediately before the Gen- 
eral Judgment. This teaching is favored by the Roman 
Catechism *? and many modern exegetes. 


c) Whichever opinion one may prefer in regard 
to the question here at issue, it is certain that even 
if Henoch and Elias did not and never will die, the 
debt of death (debitum mortis) rests upon all the 
descendants of Adam. “It is held with greater 
probability and more commonly,” says eel 
Thomas, “that all those who are alive at the com- 
ing of our Lord, will die and rise again after a 
short while. . . . If, however, it be true, as oth- 
ers hold, that they will never die, . then we 
must say .. . that although they are not to die, 
the debt of death is none the less in them, and 
that the punishment of death will be remitted by 
God, since He can also forgive the punishment due 


for actual sins.’’ ** 


41 Cfr. Rom. V, 12 sqq. 

42 Cfr. Oecumenius, in Migne, 
P. G., CXVIII, 894: ‘“‘Istud ‘non 
omnes dormiemus’ hoc modo opor- 
tet accipere, quod non dormiemus 
diuturna dormitione (ryv xpovixny 
kolujow), ut opus sit sepulchro ac 
solutione ad corruptionem; sed bre- 
vem mortem sustinebunt, qui tunc 
reperientur.” : 


The only human beings ex- 


49°P 0 Lee Caboose Otis A. 

44 Summa Theologica, 1a 2ae, qu. 
81, art. 3, ad 1: “ Probabilius et 
convenientius tenetur, quod omnes 
illi qui in adventu Domini reperien- 
tur, morientur et post modicum re- 
surgent.... Si tamen hoc verum 
sit, quod alii dicunt, quod il nun- 
quam morientur, dicendum est quod 

. est tamen in eis reatus mortis. 


12 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


empt from this law are Jesus Christ and His 
Blessed Mother, though they, too, actually paid 
tribute to death. 


Thesis II: Death in the present economy is a pun- 
ishment for sin. 


This proposition embodies an article of faith. 

Proof. It is the dogmatically defined teach- 
ing of the Church that our first parents were 
endowed with bodily immortality,*® but lost this 
prerogative for themselves and their descendants 
through sin.*° 

God solemnly forbade Adam and Eve to eat of 
the fruit of a certain tree. “In what day soever 
thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.” ** 
By transgressing this command our first parents 
incurred death. Thus, in the words of the Apos- 
tle, “by one man sin entered into this world, and 
by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in 
whom all have sinned.” ** Therefore, “the wages 
of sin is death.” *° 

Long before St. Augustine, as the latter assured 
Julian,” the Fathers considered the causal con- 
nection between sin and death to be an article of 
faith.°? 


Sed poena aufertur a Deo, qui etiam 
peccatorum actwalium poenas con- 
donare potest.” 

45 Cfr. Syn. Milev., A. D. 416, 
can: 1. 

46 Cfr. Syn. Arausic. II, can. 2; 
Conc. Trident., Sess. V, cam. 2. 


47 Gen. II, 17; cfr. Gen. III, 19. 

48 Rom. V, 12. 

40 Rom.’ V1, 23; ‘ctr. 2 Cor. (XV; 
apes eee 

60 Contra Iulian., 1. II. 

51 For the teaching of the Fathers 
on this point see Ginella, De No- 


DEATH 13 


The atonement wiped out sin and thereby enabled man 
to escape the “second death,” 7. e. eternal damnation. 
But the gift of bodily immortality was not restored.°? 
It is true, death loses the character of a punishment 
through Baptism, because, in the words of the Tridentine 
Fathers, “ there is no condemnation to those who are truly 
buried together with Christ by Baptism into death.” °° 
But the debitum mortis remains as an effect of sin 
( poenalitas), which God wisely allows for the purification 
of the just. Only in the case of Christ and His Blessed 
Mother death was neither a punishment (poena) nor an 
effect of sin (poenalitas ) .** 


Thesis III: Death ends the state of probation, that 
is, after death man can no longer either merit or de- 
merit. 


This thesis embodies what is technically called 
“doctrina catholica.”’ 

Proof. Death ends the state of pilgrimage 
(status viae) and inaugurates the state of final 
consummation (status termini), which by its very 
definition excludes the possibility of further 
merit or demerit. It is true we cannot prove 
that this must necessarily be so; but we know it 
1s So by virtue of a positive divine law.” 


The impossibility of acquiring merits after death must 


tione atque Origine Mortis, 89, 53 Conc. Trident., Sess. V, can. 5. 


Breslau 1868; for the post-Augus- 

tinian period, cfr. Casini, Quid est 

Homo?, ed. Scheeben, pp. 59 sqa., 

Mayence 1862.—See also  Pohle- 

Preuss, God the Author of Nature 

and the Supernatural, pp. 286 sqq. 
52 Cfr. Rom. V, 18 saq. 


54 See Pohle-Preuss, Christology, 
pp. 72 sqq., and Mariology, pp. 72 
sqq. 3 
55 That this law is both congru- 
ous and in accordance with nature 
is convincingly shown by Ripalda, 
De Ente Supernaturali, disp. 77. 


14 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


not, however, be conceived as a cessation of free will. 
At their entrance into the status termini the Elect as 
well as the damned once for all decide either for or against 
God ; but within the state thus definitively chosen, each re- 
tains full liberty of action. 


a) As Christ ceased to acquire merits after 
His death, so a fortiors will man. Death inau- 
surates “the night when no man can work.” °° 
Ecclesiastes compares man in this respect with a 
tree: “If the tree fall to the south, or to the 
north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall 
it be.” ®” St. Paul®*® says every man will be: 
judged according as he hath done good or evil “in 
the body.” ** St. Cyprian teaches that no one 
can do penance or make satisfaction after 
death.°° St. Augustine declares: “It is in this 
life that all merit or demerit is acquired. . . . No 
one, then, need hope that he shall obtain after 
death that which he has neglected to secure 
here.” ° The Catholic Church has embodied this 
revealed doctrine in her dogma of the Particular 
Judgment.®* 


56 Cfr. John IX, 4; Matth. XXIV, 
AQe UUW eT: 

57 Eccles. XI, 3: ‘Si ceciderst 
lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilo- 
nem, in quocunque loco ceciderit, 
‘bi erit.”’ 

58 2 Cor. V, 10. 

59 ra Oud TOU gwmaros. 

60 Ad Demetr., 25: “ Quando 
isthinc excessum fuerit, nullus iam 
poenitentiae locus, nullus  satisfac- 


tionis effectus: hic vita aut amitti- 
tur aut tenetur.” 

61 Enchiridion, c. 110: ‘“‘ Nemo se 
speret, quod hic neglexerit, quum 
obierit, apud Deum promereri.”— 
The unanimous teaching of theolo- 
gians on this point is well developed 
by Ripalda, De Ente Supernatural, 
disp: 77, .sect.” I -sqq: 

62 See infra, Ch. II, pp. 18 sqq. 


DEATH 15 


b) It is the opinion of St. Bonaventure, Ripalda, and 
Vasquez that the Elect in Heaven and the poor souls 
in Purgatory can merit and apply for the benefit of 
others certain praemia accidentalia. But this assumption 
is opposed to the analogy of faith. The power of inter- 
cession which the just wield in the world beyond is based 
entirely upon merits previously acquired in the state of 
pilgrimage.® | 

Hirscher’s view that those who, after wavering a 
long time between God and the world, finally die in 
the state of mortal sin, will be allowed to make their 
final decision in the next world, is contrary to the dog- 
matic teaching of the Church. 

c) From what we have said it follows that nothing is so 
well calculated to demonstrate the hollowness of the world 
and to preserve us from becoming unduly attached to 
it, as the pious consideration of death. Our earthly life 
is merely a “ pilgrimage,” ® a “ journey,’ ® and we are to 
make use of the things of this world only in so far as 
they aid, or at least do not hinder us in attaining our 
supernatural destiny.*%* There is much in the thought of 
death to comfort us. Death ends all our sufferings and 
trials.°° But the hour when we shall be called hence is un- 
certain,®°® and therefore we must watch and pray and strive 
always to be in the state of sanctifying grace. Mortal 
sin is the only thing that can prevent us from attaining our 
last end, which is the beatific vision of God.”? If we are 


63 Cfr. St. Thomas, Comment. in 
Sento mL jo .dist, 18, qu. (1, ‘art. “2: 
“ Beati non sunt in statu acquirendi 
secundum aliquid sui; et ideo nec 
sibi nec aliis merentur, quia, quod 
impetrant modo nobis, contingit ex 
hoc quod prius, dum _ viverent, 
meruerunt ut hoc impetrarent.” 

64 Hirscher’s error is refuted by 
Father Joseph Kleutgen, S.J., in Die 


Theologie der Vorzeit, Vol. II, 2nd 
ed., pp. 427 sqq., Minster 1872. 

65 2 Cor. V,:6. 

66 Jos. X XFIT, 14; Wisd. III, 3. 

67 Wisd. V, 1 sqq. 

68 2 Cor. IV, 16 sqq.; Apoc. XIV, 
ies 

69 Matth. XXIV, 42; Luke XII, 39 
sq., and elsewhere. 

70 Cfr. Luke XXI, 34. 


16 THE LAST THINGS.OF MAN 


in the state of grace, we can face death unflinchingly.” 
That the fear of death is so deeply ingrained in human na- 
ture,” is owing partly to sin and partly to the instinct of 
self-preservation.”* The immortality which our first par- 
ents enjoyed in Paradise was a free gift and its loss is 
a punishment. Death and the fear of death are entirely 
natural.7* Nevertheless, the thought of death should not 
discourage, but rather incite us to spend the short span 
of existence granted us here below for the benefit of our 
own souls and those near and dear to us.7** We must not, 
because life is short, seek sinful pleasures after the ex- 
ample of the ancient pagans, who had no hope of 
Heaven.”* On the other hand, we should not despise 
the things of this world. It would be folly to neg- 
lect our earthly affairs in order to devote all our time 
to works of piety. Every loyal Catholic should, on 
the contrary, do his share in advancing the interests of 
true progress and culture and thereby help to disprove the 
oft-repeated calumny that the Church is inimical to the 
world.”7 The more we accomplish in this world, if 
we have the right intention, the more confidently may we 
meet death. Ora et labora!" 


Reapincs:—Ginella, De Notione atque Origine Mortis, 
Breslau 1868.— Card. Bellarmine, De Arte bene Moriendi, 1620 


71 Phil. I, 21 sqq. 1862; F. Hettinger, Apologie des 


72-2 Cor: -V5'4;° Heb. 1Iy 15: 

73 Cfr. St. Augustine, Serm., 172, 
c. 1: “‘ Mortem horret non opinio, 
sed natura,” 

74 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 
ta 2ae, qu, 164, art..1:'°** Mors est 
naturalis propter conditionem naturae 
et poenalis propter amissionem di- 
vint beneficit praeservantis a morte.” 

75 Cfr. Eccles. IX, tro. 

76 Cfr. Reisacker, Der Todesge- 
danke bei den Griechen, Treves 


Christentums, Vol. II, oth ed., P. 1, 
pp.. 23 sqq., Freiburg 1907. 

77 Cfr. Leo XIII, Encyclical “ Im- 
mortale Det,’ Nov. 1, 1885: “ Imo 
inertiae desidiaeque inimica Ecclesia 
magnopere vult, ut hominum ingema 
uberes ferant exercitatione et cultura 
fructus.” 

78 Cfr. A. A. Cataneo, Vorberet- 
tung auf einen guten Tod, 3 vols., 
Ratisbon 1888-91; Weber, Evange- 
lium und Arbeit, Freiburg 1898. 


DEATH 17 


(German tr., Die Kunst zu sterben, by F. Hense, 2nd ed., Pader- 
born 1888).—C. M. Kaufmann, Die Jenseitshotfnungen der 
Griechen und Romer nach den Sepulkralinschriften, Freiburg 
1899.— IpEM, Die sepulkralen Jenseitsdenkmaler der Antike und 
des Urchristentums, Mayence 1900.— S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines 
of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. III, pp. 425-429.— R. W. Mackenna, 
The Adventure of Death, New York 1917. 


CHAPTER II 
THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 
SECTION 1 
EXISTENCE OF A PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 


1. DEFINITION.—By “judgment”? we mean the 
investigation, sentence, and final order of a civil or 
criminal court. God pronounces judgment upon 
the soul immediately after its separation from 
the body. This Judgment is called Particular, to 
distinguish it from the General Judgment which 
takes place at the end of the world. 


The essential point in the Catholic dogma of the Par- 
ticular Judgment is that the soul becomes aware of God’s 
final decision immediately after death. In the General 
Judgment the emphasis rests rather upon the sentence 
as such. The Particular Judgment is not necessarily a 
formal sentence. It may be merely a clear perception 
of guilt or innocence, whereby the soul is moved 
of its own accord to hasten either to Heaven, or Hell, 
or Purgatory, according to its deserts.1 The Scriptural 

1 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., carnis, per quod in statu viae de- 
Supplem., qu. 69, art. 2: “ Sicut . tinebantur, statim praemium conse- 
corpus per gravitatem vel levitatem  quuntur vel poenam, nisi aliquid im- 


statim fertur in locum suum, nisi pro-  pediat.... Et quia locus deputatur 
hibeatur, ita animae soluto vinculo ” animabus secundum congruentiam 


18 


CO a ee ee De ee 


THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 19 


“Book of Judgment,’ with its record of good and’ 
evil deeds, is a metaphor,? just like the description which 
pious writers give of the judgment scene, where the 
devil accuses, while the guardian angel either confirms 
the accusation or defends his former client. 

Where the Particular Judgment will take place no 
one knows. Probably each soul is judged on the spot 
where it leaves the body. Though Divine Revelation does 
not expressly say so, we may assume that the God-man 
Jesus Christ will act as judge both at the Particular and 
at the General Judgment.® 


2. PROOF FROM REVELATION.—Sacred Scrip- 
ture teaches that the fate of each departed soul is 
decided before the General Judgment. If this is 
so, there must be a Particular preceding the Gen- 
eral Judgment. Calvin * and the Chiliasts hold 
that the fate of the departed souls remains un- 
decided till the second coming of Christ. The 
Hypnopsychites maintain that these souls spend 
the interval between death and the General Res- 
urrection in a state of unconscious or semi-con- 
scious sleep,—a view which, Father Hunter 
thinks, is shared by most Protestants who have 
any conviction about the matter at all.® Eu- 


praemit vel poenae, statim ut anime 
absolvitur a corpore, vel in infernum 
mergitur vel ad caelos evolat, nist im- 
pediatur aliquo reatu, quo oporteat 
evolationem differri, ut prius anima 
purgetur.”’ 

2Cfr. St. Augustine, De Civitate 
Dei, XX, 14. 

3Cfr. Suarez, De 
Christi, disp. 52, sect. 2: 


Myst. Vitae 
“ Verisi- 


mile est, in eo instants animam cogno- 
scere sese iudicari et salvari vel 
damnart imperio et efficientid non 
solum Det, sed etiam hominis 
Christi.’ 

4 Instit., IL, 25: 4 

8 Cir S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines 
of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. III, p. 
430, 


20 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


sebius tells of a strange sect, called Thnetopsy- 
chites, who believed that the disembodied souls 
await the General Judgment in a state of tempo- 
rary annihilation.© The teaching of the Church 
is that the fate of every man is determined some- 
time before the General Judgment.’ 

a) ‘St: Paul sayss:) Its appointed unto men 
once to die, and after this the judgment.” * This 
text may be quoted in favor of our thesis, though 
it ig not conclusive because we do not know for 
certain whether the Apostle refers to the Particu- 
lar or to the General Judgment.® A more con- 
vincing proof for our dogma is furnished by the 
parable of Lazarus, Luke Vile 22-s ss ANG eee 
rich man also died, and he was buried in hell.” 
Dives must have been judged before he was pun- 
ished. The same is true of Judas, who, according 
to the sacred writer, “went to his own place.” *° 
Ecclesiastes says that the body “returns into its 
earth, from whence it was, while the spirit re- 
turns to God who gave it.” ** 

b) The teaching of the Fathers is in full ac- 
cord with that of Sacred Scripture. St. Augus- 
tine (to quote but one of them) says the departed 
souls are judged as they leave the body and before 


6 Hist. Eccles., V1, 37. 9 Cfr. Estius 7. h. |. 

7V. infra, Sect. 2. 10“. . . ut abiret in locum suum 

8 Heb. IX, 27: “ Statutum est (els Tov Témov TOV ENT NT ose ae 
hominibus, semel mori, post hoc 25 


(wera 5€ TovTO) autem iudicium,” 11 Eccles. XII, 7. 


THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 21 


they appear at the final judgment, which takes > 
place at the end of the world.” 

A further confirmation of our dogma will be 
found below in Section 2, where it is shown that 
the Particular Judgment takes place immediately 
after death. If the fate of the departed souls is 
determined immediately after death, it follows 
that they are judged immediately after death. 


12 De Anima et eius Origine, II, 
4,8: “ Rectissime et valde salubriter 
creditur, tudicart animas, quum de 
corporibus exierint, antequam veniant 
ad illud iudicium, quo eas oportet 


dam redditis corporibus iudicari atque 
in ipsa, in qua hic vixerunt carne, 
torqueri sive glorificari.” (Migne, 
Pa ee LV AOS) s 


SECTION: 
TIME OF THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 


1. HisToricAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE DoGMaA. 
—The Catholic dogma that the soul is judged im- 
mediately after death has passed through a long 
process of clarification in the minds of the faith- 
ful. There was no official definition of it by the 
Church until the Middle Ages. 

a) In the primitive Church vague ideas were 
current in regard to the immediate fate of the de- 
parted. 


Not to speak of the Chiliasts, the Hypnopsychites, and 
the Thnetopsychites, even some orthodox writers har- 
bored erroneous notions concerning the fate of the soul 
after death. Thus St. Justin Martyr seems to have held 
that the disembcdied souls enjoy a natural beatitude in 
the interval between death and the General Resurrec- 
tion! St. Irenaeus imagined them dwelling in a sort of 
paradise (locus amoenitatis) distinct from Heaven.? Ter- 
tullian believed that the martyrs entered into the beatific 
vision immediately after death. St. Hilary speaks of a 
temporary imprisonment (custodia) of the soul.* 

It would, however, be wrong to suppose that these Pa- 


1 Dial., 80. 8 De Anima, 55. 
2 Adv, Haereses, V, 31, 2. AD HPS yD 205 De 20s 


22 


ee re eee Ne ee, eee ee ee 


CS ae ee ee 


THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 23 


tristic writers erred in regard to the substance of the 
dogma. There are many passages in their writings which, 
at least virtually, inculcate the orthodox view, as when 
they speak of our Lord’s descent into Hell and the inter- 
cession of the saints. 


b) It was the universal belief of the early 
Christians that the wicked go to Hell immediately 
after death. 


The dread sentence, “Depart from me, you cursed, 
into everlasting fire,’ > was regarded as the confirmation 
of a previous judgment and an accentuation of the pun- 
ishment imposed on both the soul and its risen body. 
In accordance with this ancient belief, Benedict XII de- 
fined in his dogmatic Bull “ Benedictus Deus,’ A. D. 1336, 
“that . .. the souls of those who depart this life in the 
state of mortal sin descend into Hell immediately after 
death and are there subject to infernal torments.”’*® A 
similar passage occurs in the profession of faith sub- 
mitted by the Greek Emperor Michael Paleologus at the 
Council of Lyons, A. D. 1274,’ which was embodied in 
the Decree of Union adopted at Florence, in 1439.8 


c) The clarification of ideas with regard to the 
fate of the just proceeded more slowly. 


It was believed at an early date that the just, too, are 


5 Matth. XXV, 41. 
6 “° Definimus quod... animae 
descendentium in actuali peccato 


descendunt, mox [t.e. statim]. in 
infernum descendere, poenis tamen 
disparibus puniendas,”’ (Denzinger- 


mortal mox post mortem suam ad 
inferna descendunt, ubi poenis in- 
fernalibus cruciantur.”’ (Denzinger- 
Bannwart, n. 531). : 

7“ Iilorum autem animas, qui in 
mortali peccato vel cum solo originali 


Bannwart, n. 464). 

8 The bearing of this dogmatic de- 
cree on the lot of unbaptized in- 
fants is explained in Pochle-Preuss, 
God the Author of Nature and the 
Supernatural; pp. 304 sq. 


24 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


judged immediately after death; but there was uncer- 
tainty as to whether they were forthwith admitted to 
the vision of the Blessed Trinity or enjoyed some inferior 
kind of beatitude. This uncertainty continued even after 
the Second Council of Lyons (1274) had declared that 
“the souls of the just are received immediately into 
Heaven.”® As late as 1330 certain Franciscan theolo- 
gians are said to have taught that the souls of the just 
enjoy the vision of Christ as man (im forma servi), but 
that the beatific vision of God (in forma Det) was 
reserved until after the Last Judgment. It is but fair to 
add, however, that Wadding denies this charge against his 
fellow-religious.t° If the Franciscans really held the 
opinion in question, they shared their mistake with Pope 
John XXII, who about 1331 privately taught the same 
doctrine. In 1336 Pope Benedict XII, in his afore- 
mentioned Bull, defined that those who depart this life in 
the state of sanctifying grace “ behold the ‘divine essence 
intuitively and face to face.” 12. The Council of Florence 
cleared away the last remaining doubt by adding the 
words: “They clearly behold God Himself, one and 
tri-une, as He is.” ° 


2. Proor FROM REVELATION.—Sacred Scrip- 
ture teaches that the fate of every man is de- 
cided immediately after death and that the ulti- 


9“ Illorum [scil. iustorum] ani- 6522 sd, Freiburg 1890. 
mas mox in caelum recipi.” (Den- 12‘... vident divinam  essen- 


zinger-Bannwart, n. 464). 

10 Annales Minorum, ad annum 
1331, 2nd ed., Vol. Viblepcris. 

11 He did not, however, make an 
ex cathedra decision on the subject, 
as the opponents of papal infalli- 
bility assert. Cfr. Hefele, Concili-- 
engeschichte, Vol. VI, 2nd ed., pp. 


tiam visione intuitivad et etiam faci- 
ali.’ (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 531). 

18‘... et intuert clare ipsum 
Deum trinum et unum, sicuti est.” 
(Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 693).— Cfr. 
Pohle-Preuss, God: His Knowability, 
Essence, and Attributes, 2nd ed., p. 
108, St. Louis 1914. 


oe 


De ine Be 


THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 25 


mate condition of the Blessed and the damned 
respectively is essentially the same before and 
after the General Resurrection. 

a) Ecclus. XI, 28: “It is easy before God in 
the day of death to reward every one according 
to his ways.” ** If God rewards every one ac- 
cording to his deserts “in the day of death,’ He 
must send the souls of the just to Heaven and 
those of the wicked to Hell immediately after their 
separation from the body. This is confirmed in 
the parable which says that “the rich man also 
died, and was buried in Hell.” 1° 


St. Hilary writes: ‘“‘ Lazarus was carried by angels to 
the place prepared for the Elect in Abraham’s bosom, 
whereas Dives was buried forthwith in the place of pun- 
ishment.” 1° St. Gregory the Great teaches: “ As beati- 
tude causes the Elect to be glad, so, it is necessary to be- 
lieve, fire torments the wicked from the day of their 
death.” 77 St. John Chrysostom expresses the same 
thought in a striking simile: ‘‘ As criminals are dragged 
in chains from jail to the seat of judgment, so the 
souls of the departed are forthwith brought before that 
terrible judgment seat, burdened with the various punish- 
ments due to their sins.” 1° 


b) The fate of the just is illustrated by the ex- 


14 Ecclus. XI, 28: “ Quoniam fa- torum et in Abrahae sinu locaverunt, 


cile est coram Deo in die obitus re- 
tribuere wnicuique secundum vias 
suas.’” 

15 Luke XXIII, 43. 

16 In Ps., 2, n. 48: “* Testes nobis 
[sunt] evangelicus dives et pauper, 
quorum unum angeli in sedibus bea- 


alium statim poenae regio [scil. in- 
fernum] suscepit.’”’ 

17 Dial., IV, 28: “ Sicut electos 
beatitudo laetificat, ita credi necesse 
est quod a die exitus sui ignis repro- 
bos exurat.” 

18 Hom. in Matth., XIV, n. 4. 


26 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


ample of Lazarus, who “was carried by the angels 
into Abraham’s bosom” immediately after his 
demise,’® and by Christ’s promise to the good 
thief, “This day thou shalt be with me in para- 
dise.” 2° The terms “Abraham’s bosom” and 
“paradise,” strictly speaking, signity the limbus 
Patrum, but we know that since the Ascension of 
our Lord the limbo has made way for Heaven. 

An even more convincing text is 2 Cor. V, 6 
sqq.: “We know that, while we are in the body 
(evSnpoivtes &v 7G odpar.) we are absent from the Lord 
(exdnpotpev amd rod xvpiov), for we walk by faith, and 
not by sight. But we are confident and have a 
good will to be absent rather from the body and to 
be present with the Lord.” To “be in the body’* 
means to “walk by faith,’ to “be present with the 
Lord,” to enjoy the beatific vision, for which the 
Apostle betrays such a keen desire in his Epis- 
tle to the Philippians (I, 21 sqq.). The only 
means of attaining this end is “absence from the 
body,” i. e. death. Consequently, according to 
St. Paul, the Elect enter upon their celestial in- 
heritance immediately after death. 


The Fathers held this dogma implicitly rather than 
explicitly. St. Cyprian says: “ What a dignity it ase 
and what a security, . . . in a moment to close the eyes 
with which men and the world are looked upon, and at 


19 Luke XVI, 22. 20 Luke XXIII, 43. 


THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT | 


once to open them to behold God and Christ!” 74 The 
Acts of the Martyrs and many ancient liturgies testify to 
the belief of the primitive Church that those who lay 
down their lives for the true faith immediately enter 
into Heaven.”2 That the early Christians held the same 
belief with regard to all the just is evident from the 
fact that they prayed to other saints besides the martyrs 
for their intercession in Heaven. 

Incidentally it may be noted that the dogma with which 
we are dealing involves another, namely our Lord’s 
descent into Hell. After the death of Christ His soul 
went down into Limbo to deliver the souls of the just 
from the temporary punishment they were suffering, and 
to introduce them to the beatific vision of God.22 To 
deny that these souls now enjoy the beatific vision would 


involve a rejection of the dogma of Christ’s descent into 
Fell.** 


21 De Exhort. Martyr, n. 13: S. Hilarii, § 6, sect. 3, n. 219. 


“Quanta est dignitas et quanta se- 
curitas, ... claudere in momento 
oculos, quibus homines videbantur 
et mundus, et aperiri eosdem statim, 
ut Deus videatur et Christus.” 

22 Cfr. Coustant, Praef. ad Opera 


23 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Soteriology, 
2nd ed., pp. 91 sqq., St. Louis 1916. 

24 Cfr. H. Hurter, S.J., Compen- 
dium Theol. Dogmat., Vol. III, thes, 
268. 


CHAPTER THT 
HEAVEN 
SHO TON 
THE EXISTENCE OF HEAVEN 


1. DEFINITION.—a) Etymologically the Latin 
word for ““Heaven’’! means the expanse of sky 
above the earth, which resembles a great dome or 
arch apparently containing the sun, moon, and 
stars. The Church employs the term caelum to 
signify the abode of God and the Blessed, with 
the emphasis upon the state rather than the place 
in which they find themselves. 


The Bible refers to Heaven both as a place and as a 
state (eternal life, eternal rest, the kingdom of God, 
the joy of the Lord, etc.). In the language of St. Paul, 
to enter into Heaven is to “be present with the Lord,” ” 
which can mean nothing else but a spiritual occupation 
engaging the highest faculties of the soul and culminating 
in the knowledge and love of God. As Heaven is man’s 
final goal (status termini), it must be identical with 
the beatitude which comes to the created mind from the 


1 Caelum=a hollow sphere; 22 Corsi, 1s 
Greek, ovpavés = vault, ceiling. 


HEAVEN 29 


contemplation and love of the divine essence and perfec- 
tions (status beatitudints ). 


b) To arrive at a real, as opposed to the nom- 
inal, definition of Heaven, therefore, we must 
ascertain in what precisely the happiness of the 
Elect consists. 

Boéthius defines Heaven as “‘a state made per- 
fect by the accumulation of all good things.” ° 
St. Thomas says it is “the ultimate perfection of 
rational or intellectual nature.” * These defi- 
nitions, while correct, are not sufficiently specific, 
for a “state made perfect by the accumulation of 
all good things” and the “ultimate perfection of 
rational nature” need not necessarily be supernat- 
ural. 


The happiness produced by the knowledge and love 
of God would not be the same in a natural state of beati- 
tude as it isin Heaven. In proposing to man a supernat- 
ural end, the Creator abolished his purely natural destiny, 
which consisted in an abstractive knowledge and a nat- 
ural love of God. In the present economy the rational 
creature has no choice between natural and supernatural 
beatitude. To miss the latter means to miss both. Hence 
Heaven, in the Christian sense, must be a state of super- 
natural beatitude. Bi 

In what does this supernatural beatitude consist? 


c) The supernatural beatitude of Heaven fun- 
3 De Consolatione Philosophiae, 4“ Ultima perfectio rationalis sive 


III, 2: “ Status omnium bonorum  intellectualis naturae.” (Summa 
congregatione perfectus.”’ Theol ta qu O2yratt.y Bs 


30 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


damentally consists in the intuitive vision of the 
Divine Essence (visio Det intuitiva), as opposed 
to the purely abstractive and analogical knowl- 
edge which man has of God here below. 

St. Paul describes the difference between these 
two kinds of knowledge as follows: “Now we 
see in a mirror, obscurely; but then [we shall see] 
face to face. Now I know in part; then shall I 
know fully, even as I have been fully known [by 
God].”® As the Divine Essence subsists in three 
distinct Persons, the beatific vision involves an in- 
tuitive knowledge of the Trinity. Needless to 
say, the human intellect cannot attain to this ex- 
alted knowledge by its own power, but requires 
for this purpose a special “light of glory.” ° 

The intuitive vision of God is essentially beatt- 
fic, that is; it renders man infinitely happy. 

Thomists and Scotists have been engaged in 
a long-standing controversy on the question 
whether beatitude is in the intellect or in the will. 
The two views are not incompatible, in fact, it is 
only by judiciously combining them that we ar- 
rive at the whole truth, viz.: that the knowledge 
of God is the essence of beatitude, while the love 
of God is its form and goal. 


51 Cor. XIII, 12: “Videmus  erimus. Scimus quoniam, quum 


nunc per speculum in aenigmate: apparuerit, similes et erimus: quo- 
tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc mniam videbimus eum sicuti est.” 
cognosco ex parte: tunc autem Co- 6 Lumen gloriae.— On the lumen 


gnoscam sicut et cognitus sum.” Cfr. gloriae see Pohle-Preuss, God: His 


1 John, III, 2: “Nunc filii Dei Knowability, Essence, and Attri- 
sumus: et nondum apparuit quid butes, p. 146. 


HEAVEN 31 


d) Perfect beatitude must include the will as 
well as the intellect. That beatitude is de- 
scribed more often as knowledge than as love 
is owing to the fact that whereas the love we 
shall have for God in Heaven is substantially 
identical with the love we have for Him on 
earth,’ the knowledge we shall have of Him there 
differs essentially from the abstractive and an- 
alogical knowledge which is vouchsafed us here. 
This does not, however, prevent the visio beatifica 
from culminating in a rapturous love, free from 
imperfection, whereby the creature is made un- 
speakably happy (amor beatificus). As faith is 
transformed into vision and hope changes to pos- 
session, love grows perfect and thus man becomes 
completely happy. 

2. PROOF FROM REVELATION.—Various hereti- 
cal errors have been current at one time or other 
concerning the nature of Heaven. Certain Ar- 
-menian writers of the fourteenth century claimed 
that the Elect know God in an abstractive man- 
ner only. The Palamites or Hesychasts, a school 
of Greek mystics who flourished about the 
same time on Mount Athos, taught that the di- 
vine attributes are mere radiations of God’s Es- 
sence, which become solidified as it were, by tak- 
ing on the shape of an uncreated light, percepti- 
ble to the Blessed by means of bodily vision.® 


*Cfro's Cor., XITI;:8 sqq. 8 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, op. cit. (note 
r 6), p. 146. 


32 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


Rosmini all but denied the beatific vision by say- 
ing that its object is not the Divine Essence, but 
God in His relation to the outside world.® ‘The 
question was authoritatively decided by Benedict 
KIT? (1336) cand) the’ CGouneil of )Blorence 


(1439).™ 
a) For the proof from Revelation see Pohle- 


Preuss, God: His Knowability, Essence, and At- 
tributes, pp. 80 sqq. 

b) The beatitude of Heaven would be incom- 
plete if it did not include freedom from evil;— 
which is but another way of saying that the 
Blessed can neither suffer pain nor commit sin. 


Evil may be physical or moral. Physical evil disturbs 
the order of nature; moral evil interferes with the law by 
which God governs the universe. Physical evils are, e. g., 
ignorance, sorrow, pain, sickness, and death. Moral evils: 
sin and concupiscence (fomes peccati). In Heaven there 
is neither physical nor moral evil. Cfr. Apoc. VII, 16: 
“They shall no more hunger nor thirst; the sun shall not 
oppress them, nor any heat.” Apoc. XXI, 4: “And 
[God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and 
death shall be no more, neither shall mourning or wail- 
ing or pain be any more, because the first things are passed 
away.” . 

The greatest of all evils is sin, and therefore the 
Blessed can no longer sin. As this truth was denied by 
Origen, it requires special proof. In saying that there 

9 Prop. Damnat. a Leone XIII, in Schiffini, Disput. Metaph. Spec., 
prop. 38-40. The full text of the Vol. I, pp. 432 sqq. 


decree of the Holy Office condemn- 10 V. supra, Ch. II, Sect. 2, pp. 23 
ing Rosmini’s teaching will be found and 24. 


HEAVEN 33 


is no pain or sorrow in Heaven the inspired author of the 
Apocalypse cannot have meant physical sorrow only. 
Mental sorrow caused by the loss of sanctifying grace is 
far deeper and keener than mere physical pain. More- 
over, the beatitude of Heaven, being eternal, is incom- 
patible with sin. As St. Augustine aptly observes, the 
happiness of the Elect would be incomplete if it did not 
exclude sin.*! 

Whether the so-called impeccability of the Blessed in 
Heaven is due to a purely extrinsic confirmation in grace, 
or rooted in the essence of the beatific vision, is a con- 
troverted question. St. Thomas declares: “ They who 
are already blessed in Heaven, apprehend the object of 
true happiness as making their happiness and last end: 
otherwise their desire would not be set at rest in that 
object, and they would not be blessed and happy. The 
will of the Blessed, therefore, cannot swerve from the 
object of true happiness.” 12. This constancy of the will 
is rooted in an ineradicable love of God, which, being 
based on a true knowledge of His essence, has neither the 
power nor the will to offend Him.4* However, there is 
this much truth in the opposing view of the Scotists, that 
the beatific vision and impeccability, though connected by 
an intrinsic natural bond, are not essentially one, but 
could be dissociated by a miracle. The same may be said 


11 Cfr. Opusc. Imperf. c. Iulian., 
V, 61: “ Donabit eam [scil. impec- 


sent beati. Quicunque igitur beati 
sunt, voluntatem detlectere non pos- 


cantiam] veritas, ut sit certa securi- 
tas, sine qua non potest esse illa, cus 
non est aliquid addendum, iam plena 
nostra felicitas.”’ 

12 Summa _ c. Gentiles, IV, 92: 
“Sed -illi qui iam beati sunt, ap- 
brehendunt id, in quo vere beatitudo 
est, sub ratione beatitudinis et ultimi 
finis; alias in hoc non acquiesceret 
appetitus et per consequens non es- 


sunt ab eo, in quo est vera beatitudo: 
non possunt igitur perversam vo- 
luntatem habere.”’ 

13 Cfr. St. Gregory the Great, 
Moral., V, 27: “ Angelica natura 
in semetipsa mutabilis est, quam mu- 
tabilitatem vincit per hoc, quod ei 
qui semper idem est, vinculis amoris 
colligatur,”’ 


34 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


of the beatific vision and sorrow: these, too, are naturally 
but not metaphysically incompatible. 


3. THE OBJECT OF THE BEATIFIC VISION.— 
What do the Blessed in Heaven actually behold 
through the Jumen gloriae? To answer this ques- 
tion we must distinguish between the Divine Es- 
sence and the things existing outside of it. The 
Divine Essence itself is the object and source of 
what is known as beatitudo essentialis sive 
primaria, or beatitudo aurea. That secon- 
dary beatitude which the Scholastics term acct- 
dentalis, results from the contemplation of beauti- 
ful objects existing outside of the Divine Essence. 
The essential beatitude of the Blessed consists 
in an intuitive vision of the tri-une God with His 
various attributes.1? To what objects the acci- 
dental beatitude of the Blessed extends cannot be 
exactly determined. 

a) From St. Paul’s teaching in I Cor. XU, 
9 sqq. we know that the Blessed clearly behold 
in Heaven whatever they embraced with theo- 
logical faith on earth. Faith is transformed into 
knowledge. 


It follows that the Blessed have a clear, though not an 


Concil. Florent., 1439, dem exutae corporibus, ... sunt 


14 Cfr. 
purgatae, in caelum mox vecipt et 


Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 693: “ Jl 


lorumque animas, qui post baptis- 
mum susceptum nullam omnino pec- 
cati maculam incurrerunt, illas etiam, 


quae post contractam peccati macu- 
lam, vel in suis corporibus, vel eis- 


intueri clare ipsum Deum trinum et 
unum, sicuti est, pro meritorum ta- 
men diversitate alium alio perfec- 
tins.” 


SS Ne a ee ee ee 


— es a 


al ae 


gilt ie, 


HEAVEN 35 


adequate, knowledge of all the theological mysteries (the 
Trinity, the Hypostatic Union of the two natures in 
Christ, the Holy Eucharist), and their mutual relations. 
A fortiori they must have a knowledge of the lesser 
mysteries of our holy religion, e. g. in what manner the 
Sacraments produce their effects, how the Holy Ghost 
operates in the Church and in the souls of the faithful, the 
nature of actual and sanctifying grace, the number of 
the Elect, predestination and reprobation, and many other 
things of which we on earth have at best only an inkling. 


b) The beatific vision also involves a knowl- 
edge of the causal relations between God and all 
existing and possible creatures. This knowledge, 
however, is not shared equally by all the Blessed, 
but varies in clearness and depth in proportion to 
merit. 


God is the cause of His creatures in a threefold re- 
spect: (1) as their pattern-exemplar (causa exemplaris), 
1, e. the model according to which they are fashioned; (2) 
as the efficient cause (causa efficiens) of both nature and 
the supernatural; and (3) as the final end and object 
(causa finalis) towards which all creatures consciously or 
unconsciously tend.* In all three of these respects the 
Blessed in Heaven perceive not only God’s manifold re- 
lations to His creatures, but also the why and wherefore 
thereof, because knowledge of the Divine Essence neces- 
sarily includes knowledge of the divine ideas (though not 
of all), and the external glory of God, i. e. the admiration, 
love, and praise of His creatures, grows in proportion to 
their knowledge of His essence. 


15 Cir. Rom. XI, 36: “Ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia.” 


36 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


c) The beatitude enjoyed by the Blessed in 
Heaven is (per accidens) increased by their inti- 
mate association with the angels and saints. 


The inhabitants of Heaven do not lead a solitary life, 
but are associated together in a mystic body called the 
Communion of Saints (communio sanctorum). They 
are members of the triumphant Church *° and admiringly 
contemplate the angels in their hierarchical gradations as 
well as the various degrees of dignity and happiness mani- 
fested in their glorified fellowmen.1’7 Their knowledge is 
not, however, limited to heavenly things, but extends to 
Purgatory and this earth, comprising especially those 
things which are closely related to the supernatural order 
in general and the position occupied therein by each heav- 
enly denizen in particular. They devote special attention, 
of course, to whatever pertains to the worship and the 
intercession of the Saints. Bellarmine thinks that they 
derive their knowledge of these things from their official 
position in the celestial hierarchy rather than from a 
special revelation. 


d) Various bonds connect the Blessed in 
Heaven with the scene of their labors, battles, 
temptations, and victories here below. 


It was here they acquired that more or less pro- 
found knowledge of science and art which is not lost but 
clarified, deepened, and ennobled in Heaven."* Here they 


46 \Cfr. Heb. II,’ 23. et bonitatem Det in singulis admiren- 
17 Cfr. Lessius, De Summo Bono, tur et laudent.’’ 
II, 9, 61: ‘‘ Par enim est, ut civita- 18°Cfri (Corn XE, 102107 2ve- 


tem suam et domum Patris sui et  cuabitur quod ex parte est,” 
fratres suos et cives optime normt, 


_s — 
— SP. ae 


/- 


es en ee 


HEAVEN 37 


still have relatives, friends, and descendants, in whom 
their former interest continues unabated, for Death does 
not destroy our earthly relations, but raises them to a 
higher sphere, in which the salvation of souls outweighs 
all other considerations. This knowledge the Elect can 
not obtain from personal observation, as they lack the 
organs of sense, but it is communicated to them by the 
Divine Logos, in whom they behold all things.?® 


4. THE “Dowry” oF THE BLESSED.—By the 
dowry of the Blessed (dotes beatorum) the Scho- 
lastic theologians understand the supernatural 
endowments of the soul in the beatific state. 


a) Like the mystic marriage of the soul with Christ, 
the dotes beatorum must be conceived allegorically. Asa 
dowry is not the matrimonial bond, but something which 
precedes marriage; so the dowry that Christ bestows on 
His mystic spouse is a habit which precedes the beatific 
vision and renders it more enjoyable.2° The dowry of 
the Blessed is, however, purely accidental, and must not 
be confounded with the essence of the beatific vision, 
which consists in the intuitive knowledge of God.”* 


b) The gifts that constitute the dowry of the Blessed 
are partly of the body and partly of the soul. The 
dowry of the body is identical with the properties de- 
scribed myra, in Part Il, Ch. Il, Sect.:3. 2 (Phe: dowry. 
of the soul consists of the three gifts of contemplation, 


19 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa c. Rome 1888. 


Gentiles, ITI, 50 — On the relations 20 Cfr. St. Thomas, Comment. in 
of the Elect to the objects of the bea- Sent., IV, dist. 49, qu. 4, art. 2. 
tific vision the student may consult 21 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 


Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thes. 18, Supplement., qu. 95, art. 2. 


38 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


possession, and fruition. 


Contemplation (visio) corre- 


sponds to faith; possession (comprehensio), to hope; fru- 


ition (fruitio), to charity. 


All three converge in the 


light of glory, which dispels the obscurity of faith, in- 
sures the eternal possession of God, and guarantees the 


enjoyment of His love.” 


22 St. Thomas rejects the parallel 
drawn by some writers between the 
dowry of the Blessed and the three 
principal faculties of the soul. He 
says: ‘. .. quia irascibilis et con- 
cupiscibilis non sunt im parte in- 
tellectiva, sed in parte sensitiva, 
dotes autem animae ponuntur in 
ipsa mente.” (Supplement., qu. 95, 
art. 5).— The question whether the 
soul of Christ possesses the dotes 
beatorum he: answers as_ follows: 
“Vel omnino non convenit Christo 
ratio dotis vel non ita proprie, sicut 
alits sanctis; ea tamen, quae dotes di- 
cuntur, excellentissime ei con- 


veniunt.” (Ibid., art. 3). Of the 
angels he adds (tbid., art. 4): 
“ Exigitur enim inter sponsum et 
sponsam naturae confornutas, ut scil. 
sint etusdem speciet. Hoc autem 
modo homines cum Christo con- 
veniunt, inquantum naturam huma- 
nam assumpsit. ... Angelis autem 
non est conformis secundum wunita- 
tem species neque secundum naturam 
divinam neque secundum humanam, 
et ideo ratio dotis non ita proprie 
conventt angelis sicut hominibus.’”— 
The Scholastic doctrine of the dotes 
beatorum is of no great importance. 


SECTION 2 
THE PROPERTIES OF HEAVEN 


Heaven is supernatural and eternal, and has 
various degrees of happiness for the Blessed, cor- 
‘responding to the higher or lower measure of 
grace with which each is endowed and the in- 
timacy of his union with God.’ 

I, ETERNITY OF HEAvVEN.—The eternity of 
Heaven was in olden times denied by the Origen- 
ists. Benedict XII defined it as an article of faith: 
“This same vision and fruition . . . continues 
and will continue till the final judgment, and 
thenceforward forever.”’* The dogma is as old 
as Christianity, for the Apostles’ Creed says: “I 
believe . . . in life everlasting.” 

a) Sacred Scripture employs many beautiful 
figures to illustrate the perpetuity of Heaven. 
Thus it compares Heaven to “a treasure which 
faileth not,” which “no thief approacheth, nor 
moth corrupteth;’* a reception “into everlast- 


1Qn the supernatural character mnuabitur usque ad finale tudicium, 
of the beatific vision see Pohle- et tunc usque in sempiternum.” 
Preuss, God: His Knowability, Es- (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 531). 


sence, and Atiributes, pp. 80 sqq. 8 Luke XII, 33: “. .. thesaurum 

2Cfr. the Bull ‘“* Benedictus,” non deficientem in caelis: quo fur 
A. D. 1336: ‘‘ Eadem visio et fru- non appropriat, neque tinea corrum- 
itio . . . continuata existit et conti- pit.” 


39 


40 THES LAST THINGS (OF DLAN 


ing dwellings;’* “a never fading crown of 
glory;’*® an “everlasting kingdom.’*® St. John 
frequently refers to the abode of the Blessed as 
veternal lite,” 

b) The Fathers conceived Heaven as unending. 
Heaven must be everlasting, says St. Augustine, 
because no happiness could be perfect that would 
be overshadowed by the fear of a possible cessa- 
tion or loss.6 St. Thomas defines eternity as an 
intrinsic and essential quality without which 
Heaven would not be Heaven. The opinion of 
some of the later Scotists that eternity is an acci- 
dental quality of beatitude, is untenable. 

2. Various DEGREES OF HAPPINESS AMONG 
THE BLESSED.—The ancient heretic Jovinian held 
that virtues and vices, merits and demerits, re- 
wards and punishments are all alike. Luther, in 
accordance with his false theory of justification, 
contended that glory as well as grace are abso- 
lutely equal in all men and do not admit of degrees. 
The Catholic Church, on the contrary, holds as 
an article of faith that there are among the 
Blessed various degrees of happiness, in propor- 


4Luke XVI, 9: “ Facite vobis 
amicos de mammona iniquitatis: ut, 
quum defeceritis, recipiant vos in 
aeterna tabernacula.”’ 

51 Pet. V, 4: “ Quum apparu- 


7 Vita aeterna, {wh alwvvos. 

8 De Civ.. Dei, XII, 20: “ Quid 
enim illa beatitudine falsius atque 
fallacius, ubi nos futuros miseros aut 
in tanta veritatis luce nesctamus aut 


erit princeps pastorum, percipietis 
immarcescibilem gloriae coronam.” 

62 Pet. I, 11: “‘ aeternum regnum 
Domini.” 


in summé felicitatis arce timeamus? 
. . . Atque ita spes nostrae infelicita- 
tis est felix et felicitatis infelix.” 


HEAVEN > 41 


tion to merit. ‘One is more perfect than the 
other according to the different merits of each,” 
says e. g. the Decretum Umionts of Florence.® 

a) This teaching agrees perfectly with Sacred 
Seripture, Our, Lord: Himself: intimates jthat 
there are various degrees of happiness among 
the Elect, when He says: “In my Father’s 


house there are many mansions.” *° St. Paul ex- 
pressly declares: “Each shall receive his own re- 
ward according to his own toil.”** And: “He 


who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly, 
and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap 
Wiessines, 7? *.) And again: "The glory vot ‘the 
heavenly is different from that of the earthly. 
There is the glory of the sun, and the glory of the 
moon, and the glory of the stars; for star dif- 
fereth from star in glory. And so it is with the 
resurrection of the dead.” » 


The Fathers express themselves in similar terms. St. 
Polycarp bravely assures his heathen judge: ‘“ The more 
I suffer, the greater will be my reward.” ** St. Ignatius 


13 5.) Corie OV 4b Lasdsan 4a 
claritas solis, alia claritas lunae, et 


9°... pro meritorum tamen di- 


versitate alium allio perfectius.”’ 
Stella enim 


(Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 693). 

10 John XIV, 2: ‘In domo Pa- 
tris met mansiones multae sunt.” 

111 Cor. III, 8: “ Unusquisque 
autem propriam mercedem accipiet 
secundum suum laborem.” 

122 Cor. IX, 6: “ Qui parce 
seminat, parce et metet: et qui semt- 
nat in benedictionibus, de benedic- 
tionibus et metet.’? 


alia claritas stellarum. 
a stella differt in claritate: sic et 
resurrectio mortuorum.’— Cfr. Al. 
Schafer, Erklarung der betden 
Briefe an die Korinther, pp. 228 sqq., 
Minster 1903; J. MacRory, The 
Epistles of St. Paul to the Corin- 
thians, P. I, pp. 245 sq., Dublin 
1915. 
14 Martyrium S. Polycarpi, 40. 


42 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


of Antioch writes: “The greater the toil, the greater 
the gain.” +> Tertullian says: ‘‘ How is it that there are 
many mansions in the Father’s house, if not for the va- 
riety of merits? How does star differ from star in glory, 
if not for the diversity of rays?” 1® St. Jerome argues 
against Jovinian: “If there is no difference in merits, if 
virgins do not differ from married women, if the easier 
works of piety are equally meritorious with the constancy 
of the martyrs, it is vain to strive for perfection,” and 
proceeds to show how absurd it is to suppose that a 
death-bed repentance puts the life-long sinner on a level 
with the Apostles.1” 

The objection that inequality of glory in Heaven eat 
provoke envy and jealousy among the Blessed, is re- 
futed by St. Augustine as follows: “There will be no 
envy on account of unequal glory, because one love will 
govern all.”2® According to St. Thomas the measure of 
glory enjoyed by each is gauged by the strength of the 
love he has for God: ‘ That intellect which has more 
of the light of glory will see God the more perfectly; and 
he will have a fuller participation of the light of glory 
who has more of charity, because where there is greater 
charity, there is a more ardent desire; . hence he who 
possesses the greater charity, will see God the more per- 
fecthy (7? 


15 4d Polycarp., I, 3: 6mov  studium, taediosus omnino erit vir- 


awrelwy Kéros, wodv Képdos. 

16 Scorpiace, 6: ‘‘ Quomodo mul- 
tae mansiones apud Patrem, si non 
pro varietate meritorum? Quomodo 
et stella a stella distabit in gloria, 
nisi pro diversitate radiorum? ” 

17 Contra Iovin., II, 34: “ Sé 
nulla meritorum diversitas, si nihil 
distet inter virgines et mulieres 
coniugatas, si aequalis meriti sint 
leviora virtutum opera et martyrum 
constantia, vonum evit perfectionis 


tutum labor, omnes a perfectione re- 
trahentur. Quid perseverant  vir- 
gines? Quid laborant viduae? Cur 
maritatae se continent? Peccemus 


omnes, et post poenitentiam idem 
erimus quod Apostoli sunt.” 
18. Tract. in Ioa., 67, 3: ‘‘ Non 


erit aliqua invidia imparis claritatis, 
quoniam regnabit in omnibus unitas 
caritatis.” 

19 Summa Theol., 1a, qu. 12, art. 
6: “Intellectus plus participans de 


HEAVEN 43 


b) The inequality of heavenly glory has given 
rise to the Scholastic doctrine of aureolae, 1. e. 
special marks of success attaching to those who 
have won conspicuous victories over the three 
arch-enemies of man, the world, the flesh, and 
the devil.”° ? 


The aureola of the virgin marks a heroic victory over 
the flesh; *4 that of the martyr, over the world; ?? that 
of the doctor, over the devil, who is the father of lies.?° 


These marks must be something real, immanent in the 
soul, and may be conceived as an internal joy over the 
victory won. What some theologians say of the external 
visibility of these crowns of glory, or their color, is pure 
conjecture. 


READINGS :— *Lessius, De Summo Bono et Aeterna Beatitudine 
Hominis, Antwerp 1616 (ed. Hurter, 1869).— Suarez, De Fine 
Ultimo.—* Bellarmine, De Sanctorum Beatitudine.— Schniitgen, 
Die Visio Beatifica, Wurzburg 1867.— A Krawutzcky, De Visione 
Beatifica Comment. Histor., Breslau 1868.— Kirschkamp, Gnade 
und Glorie in ihrem inneren Zusammenhang, Wurzburg 1878.— 
*Bautz, Der Himmel, spekulativ dargestellt, Mayence 1881.— 
*Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thes. 14-19, Rome 1888.— F. Boudreaux, 
S.J., Die Seligkeit des Himmels, Kevelaer 1898.— Scheeben, Die 
Mysterien des Christentums, 3rd ed., pp. 583 sqq., Freiburg 1912. 
—E. Méric, Les Elus se reconnaitront au Ciel, Paris 1881.— 
Blot, S.J., Das Wiedererkennen im Jenseits, 1oth ed., Mayence 


lumine gloriae perfectius Deum vide- 
bit. Plus autem participabit de lu- 
mine gloriae, qui plus habet de cari- 
tate, quia ubi est mator caritas, ibt 
est maius desiderium. ... Unde qui 
plus habebit de caritate, perfectius 
Deum videbit.’”’ 

20 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 
Supplement., qu. 95, art. 1: “ Au- 


reola est aliquid aureae [beatitudini 
essentiali] superadditum, %. e. quod- 
dam gaudium de operibus a se factts, 
quae habent rationem victoriae ex- 
cellentis.” 

21 Apoc. XIV, 3. 

22 Cfr. Matth. V, 11 sq. 

23 Cfr. Dan. XII, 3. 


44 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


1900.—G. Gietmann, S.J., art. “Nimbus,” in Vol. XI of the 
Catholic Encyclopedia—Jos. Hontheim, S.J., art. “Heaven,” 
ibid., Vol. VII.—Delloue-Leahy, Solution of the Great Problem, 
New York 1917, pp. 217 sqq.—B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the 
History of Dogmas, Vol II, St. Louis 1918, pp. 430 sqq. 


CEAP TER EV; 
HELL 
SECON 1 
THE EXISTENCE OF HELL 


1. DEFINITION.—Our English word “Hell” 
comes from the Anglo-Saxon hel, which origin- 
ally signified “a hidden place.”.* According to 
present-day usage Hell means the abode of evil 
spirits and the place or state of punishment of the 
wicked after death. The Hebrew term sheol is 
sometimes used in the same sense, though its 
proper meaning is “cave,” “nether world,” or 
“abode of the departed.” The Latin imfernus 
(Greek, #ns) more definitely signifies the place 
where the wicked are tormented. The Hebrew 
name for this place is gehenna, which originally 
meant “valley of the Hinnom.” This valley was 
near Jerusalem and once belonged to the sons of 
Hinnom (Ennom). Later it became the scene of 
cruel sacrifices to Moloch and finally served as 
a garbage dump.” The term gehenna in the sense 


1See the Oxford New English 2Cfr. 4 Kings XXIII, 10; Jer. 
Dictionary, Vol. V, s. v. VID esis SEG 6: 


~ 45 


46 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


of infernus was in common use among the Jews 
at the time of our Lord.’ 


Besides these more or less technical terms, Holy Scrip- 
ture employs a number of metaphorical expressions to 
describe the abode of the damned, e. g., “ exterior dark- 
ness,’ accompanied by “weeping and gnashing of 


r 


teeth; * “ everlasting fire;’’® “the second death,” ® etc. 
Though all these phrases, with the exception of the last, 
may connote a place, the emphasis is upon the state of 
eternal damnation and torment. Very truly, therefore, 
has it been said that the damned carry Hell around with 
them. 


2. THE EXISTENCE OF HELL PROVED FROM 
SACRED SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION.—The exist- 
ence of Hell was denied by the Jewish sect of the 
Sadducees, by the followers of the Gnostic heretic 
Valentinus, and, generally, by unbelievers of all 
ages. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, has 
repeatedly and solemnly defined that “the wicked 
[ will receive] eternal punishment together with 
the devil.” ’ 

a) Sacred Scripture inculcates this truth so 
frequently and unmistakably that it has been 
justly said that no other Catholic dogma has such 
a solid Biblical basis. St. Jude designates Hellas 


8 Cfr. Matth.. V, 22,' 20;. Mark 7Conc. Lat. IV, Cap. ‘' Firmi- 
IX, 46; Luke XII, s. ter’: “ Jlli [scil. mali] cum diabolo 
4 Tenebrae  exteriores, oKOTOS poenam perpetuam et isti [scil. boni] 
éfwrepov. (Matth. VIII, 12). cum Christo gloriam sempiternam 


5 Matth. XXV, 41; Mark IX, g2. [recipient].” (Denzinger-Bannwart, 
6 V. supra, p. 5. Nn. 429). 


22 a 


HELL 47 


“the punishment of eternal fire.” * St. Paul calls 
it “eternal punishment in destruction.” ° Our 
Lord Himself describes it as an “unquenchable 
fire,” a place “where the worm dieth not and the 
fire is not extinguished,” '° a “furnace of fire,” ™ 
etc. St. John in the Apocalypse refers to Hell as 
“4 pool burning with fire and brimstone.” ” 
Many other texts could be cited, but it is unneces- 
sary to multiply proofs in view of our Lord’s own 
declaration that the wicked will be cast into an 
“everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil 
and his angels.’ *° 

b) The Fathers faithfully echo this teaching 
of Scripture. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch 
writes to the Ephesians: ‘Do not err, my breth- 
ren; ... if a man by false teaching corrupt the 
faith of God, for the sake of which Jesus Christ 
was crucified, such a one shall go in his foulness 
to the unquenchable fire,’* as also shall he who lis- 
tens to him.” !> Not content with testifying to 
the teaching of Scripture on the subject, the Fa- 
thers proved it from reason. Thus they argue 
that God in His justice cannot possibly allow crim- 


8 Jude 7: “ ignis aeterni poenam.” 

92 Thess. I, 9: ‘’ Qui poenas da- 
bunt in interitu. aeternas a facie 
Domini. . . .” 

10 Mark IX, 43: 
eorum non moritur, 
extinguitur.” 

11 Matth. XIII, 42:- ‘ Et mittent 
eos in caminum ignis ...” 

12 Apoc. XXI, 8: ‘“... pars ~-sl- 


“ Ubi vermis 
et ignis non 


lorum erit in stagno ardenti igne 
et sulphure: quod est mors secunda.” 
— For other expressions see No. 1, 
supra, 

13 Matth. XXV, 41: ‘“ Discedite 
ame maledicti in ignem aeternum, 
qui paratus est diabolo et angelis 
suis.” 

14 els 7d mip TO doBeoTor. 

15 Ad Eph., XVI, 2. 


48 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


inals to go unpunished. “I will briefly reply,” 
says St. Justin Martyr, “that if the matter be not 
thus, either there is no God, or if there is,.He 
does not concern Himself with men, virtue and 
vice mean nothing, and they who transgress im- 
portant laws are unjustly punished by the lawgiv- 
ers.” *® St. Chrysostom writes:. “All of us,— 
Greeks and Jews, heretics and Christians,—ac- 
knowledge that God is just. Now many who 
sinned have passed away without being punished, 
while many others, who led virtuous lives, did not 
die until they had suffered innumerable tribula- 
tions. If God is just, how will He reward the lat- 
ter and punish the former, unless there be a Hell 
anda Resurrection?” *" 


c) A cogent philosophical argument for the existence 
of Hell can be drawn from the consensus of mankind that 
there must be a place where criminals receive their just 
punishment in the next world. This belief is so general, 
so definite, and so clearly demanded by reason that it 
must be true. 

Society and the moral order could not exist without 
belief in Hell, and it is probably on this account that 
all nations have clung to this belief despite its terrors. 
Those individuals who deny the existence of Hell are 
mostly atheists or libertines, distinguished neither for 
learning nor purity of life. Wherever conscience is 
allowed to speak, it voices the firm conviction that God 
will punish the wicked and reward the just in the world 


16 Apol., II, n. 9. — Other Patristic testimonies infra, 
17 Hom. in Ep. ad Phil., 6, n. 6. Sect. 3. 


HELL 49 


beyond. St. Chrysostom aptly observes: “If those who 
argue against Hell would embrace virtue, they would soon 
be convinced of its existence.” 18 


2, THE Location oF Hett.—The Fathers and 
Scholastics believed Hell to be somewhere un- 
der the earth or near its centre, which latter 
view is immortalized in Dante’s Inferno.’? This 
ancient belief was based on such Biblical passages 
as Numb. XVI, 31 sqq.: “Immediately as he 
had made an end of speaking, the earth broke 
asunder under their feet, and opening her mouth, 
devoured them with their tents and all their sub- 
stance, and they went down alive into hell.” Ps. 
LIV, 16: “Let death come upon them, and let 
them go down alive into hell.” Isaias V, 14: 
“Therefore hath hell... opened her mouth, 
and their strong ones . . . shall go down into it.” 
Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself “descended into 
hel.’’ *° 


a) But these texts no more prove that Hell is beneath 
or in the earth than the ancient conception of Heaven as 
“above” proves that the abode of the Blessed is located 
somewhere beyond the firmament. The ancients had a 


18 Hom. in Ep. ad Rom., 31, nm. 
4.— The argument from reason in 
St. Thomas, Summa c. Gent., ITI, 
140; Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 87, 
art. 1.— Cfr. H. Luiken, Die Tra- 
ditionen des Menschengeschlechtes, 
2nd ed., pp. 410 sqq., Miinster 1869. 

19 Cfr. Patuzzi, De Sede Inferni 
in Terra Quaerenda, Venice 1763. 


20 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Soteriology, 
p. 91.— Other Patristic utterances 
in Lessius, De Perfect. Moribusque 
Divinis, XIII, 24.— The question re- 
garding the probable location of Hell 
is treated at length by Bautz, Die 
Holie, im Anschluss an die Scho- 
lastik, 2nd ed., pp. 28 sqq., Mayence 
1905. 


50 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


geocentric conception of the universe, which found its sci- 
entific expression in the Ptolemaic system. To them the 
earth was the centre of the universe, surrounded in great 
circles, called deferents, by the revolving centers of smaller 
circles, called epicycles, on whose circumferences the plan- 
ets were supposed to move. Beyond the last and highest 
sphere was an imaginary region of light, the empyreum, 
to which fire and other tenuous bodies were believed to 
tend as to their natural goal. This conception of the 
universe led the Scholastics to locate Heaven in the 
empyreum and Hell in the centre of the earth, with 
Purgatory and the Limbo somewhere in the outer strata 
of our planet. Those who, like Cosmas Indicopleustes,” 
conceived the earth as a rectangular plane encircled by 
steep walls, placed Hell underneath this plane. 

b) It is easy to ridicule these naive ideas from the 
advanced standpoint of modern science, as Draper and 
Flammarion have done. But no sane philosopher will 
argue that Hell does not exist because “ there is no place 
for it in the heliocentric system.” We readily admit 
that modern astronomy has corrected many erroneous 
notions and that the progress of geography and physics 
has exercised a wholesome influence on Eschatology. 
To-day “above” and “below” are recognized as purely 
relative terms, and we know that the heavens con- 
stantly change their position towards us as the earth 
revolves around its own axis and around the sun. Holy 
Scripture and the Fathers speak the language of the 
common people, and such phrases as take the geocentric 
system for granted, must not be interpreted literally. 
The unfortunate Galileo case is a warning to theolo- 

21 Topographia Christiana, 1. II. han, Patrology, pp. 555 84d St. 


(On this writer and his Christian Louis 1908). 
Topography cfr. Bardenhewer-Sha- 


HELL 51 


gians. The Church has never defined that Hell is a _ 
place, though the dogma of the Resurrection seems to 
entail this conclusion. Still less has she defined where 
Hell is. That is a question lying entirely outside 
the sphere of dogma. St. Gregory the Great says: 
“I dare not define anything on this subject, for some 
believed Hell to be situated somewhere within the earth, 
whereas others look for it under the earth.” 7? In point 
of fact we know nothing at all about the location of Hell, 
and instead of prying into the unknowable, we should 
heed the warning of St. Chrysostom: ‘Do not inquire 
where Hell is, but how to escape it.” ** 


22 Dial., IV, 42: “De hac ve hunc sub terra esse aestimant.”” 
temere definire nihil audeo, Nonnul- (Migne, P. L., LX XVII, 400). 
li namque in quadam terrarum parte 23 Hom. in Ep. ad Rom.,, 31, n. § 


infernum esse putaverunt, ali vero (Migne, P. G., LX, 674). 


SEC DEON: 2 
NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENT 


Though the Church has defined nothing with 
regard to the nature of the punishment which 
the wicked are compelled to suffer in Hell, theolo- 
gians usually describe it as partly privative and 
partly positive. 

Its most dreadful element is undoubtedly the 
loss of the beatific vision. To this (poena damnit) 
are added certain positive torments (poena sen- 
SUS). 

The twofold punishment of the wicked, ac- 
cording to St. Thomas, corresponds to the two- 
fold nature of sin, which is both a turning away 
from God (aversio a Deo) and an inordinate 
turning towards the creature (conversio ad cre- 
aturam). ‘Punishment,’ he says, “is propor- 
tionate to sin. Now sin comprises two things. 
First, there is the turning away from the immu- 
table good, which is infinite, and therefore, in 
this respect, sin is infinite. Secondly, there is the 
inordinate turning to mutable good. In this re- 
spect sin is finite, both because the mutable good 
itself is finite, and because the movement of 

52 


HELL 53 


turning towards it is finite, since the acts of a 
creature cannot be infinite. Accordingly, in so 
far as sin consists in turning away from God, its 
corresponding punishment is the pain of loss, 
which also is infinite, because it is the loss of the 
infinite good, 7.e. God. But in so far as sin turns 
inordinately [to the mutable good], its corre- 
sponding punishment is the pain of sense, which 
also is finite.’ ’ 

1. THe Patn or Loss (PoENA DAMNI).— 
Damnation consists essentially in a realization, on 
the part of the creature, of the fact that through 
its own fault it has lost the greatest of all goods 
and missed the very purpose of its existence, and 
thereby its natural destiny. This knowledge 
causes a feeling of unhappiness akin to despera- 
tion, which is the exact counterpart of the beati- 
tude of Heaven. The poena dammni is expressed 
in the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed!” 
whereas the poena sensus is indicated in the 
Picase.. into, eternal) 'fire’)*. There: are, other 
Scriptural texts that confirm this doctrine. Luke 


tum etiam quia ipsa conversio est 
finita; non enim possunt esse actus 
creaturae -infinitt. Ex parte igitur 


1Summa Theol., ta 2ae, qu. 87, 
art. 4: ‘‘ Poena proportionatur pec- 
cato. In peccato autem duo sunt: 


quorum unum est aversio ab in- 
commutabili bono, quod est infinitum, 
unde ex hac parte peccatum est in- 
finitum; aliud quod est in peccato 
est inordinata conversio ad com- 
mutabile bonum; et ex hac parte 
peccatum est finitum, tum quia ip- 
sum bonum commutabile est finitum, 


aversionis respondet peccato poena 
damni, quae etiam est infinita; est 
enim amissio infiniti boni, scilicet 
Dei. Ex parte autem inordinatae 
conversionis respondet ei poena sen- 
sus, quae etiam est finita.”’ 

2V. infra, No. 2. 


54 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


XIV, 24: “But I say unto you that none of those 
men that were invited, shall taste of my supper.” ° 
In the parable of the Master of the house, Luke 
XIII, 27 sq., the Lord says: “I know you not, 
whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of 
iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 
God, and you yourselves thrust out.” 4 

The Fathers unanimously confirm the teaching 
of Scripture. St. John Chrysostom describes the 
pain of loss, in contradistinction to the pain of 
sense, as follows: “The fire of Hell is insup- 
portable—who does not know it?—and its tor- 
ments are awful. But if you were to heap a 
thousand hell-fires one on top of the other, it 
would be as nothing compared to the punishment 
[that consists in] being excluded from the bea- 
tific glory of Heaven, hated by Christ, and com- 
pelled to hear Him say, ‘I know thee not.’ ” 5 


It is difficult, nay impossible, to write a psychology of 
the damned. This much, however, is certain: the repro- 
bates in Hell are beyond redemption, and sanctifying 
grace in their souls is replaced by a fierce hatred of Al- 
mighty God. 


8Luke XIV, 24: “ Dico autem 
vobis, quod nemo virorum illorum, 
qui vocatt sunt, gustabit coenam 
meam.”” 

4Luke XIII, 27 sq.: ‘“ Nescio 
wos, unde sitis: discedite a me 


omnes operarit iniquitatis. Ibi erit 
fletus et stridor dentium: quum vi- 
deritis Abraham et Isaac et Iacob 
et omnes prophetas in regno Dei, 
vos autem expelli foras.”’ 

5 Hom, in Matth., 23, n. 8. 


HELL RG 


Schell * has protested against the “ rigorism ” which as- 
serts that the will of the wicked after death is suddenly 
set against God and that their previous half-hearted love 
of, or indifference towards Him, becomes transformed 
into “satanic malice.” The germs of moral good which 
a soul takes with it into the next world, he argues, cannot 
be lost, since God destroys no good thing. This doubt- 
ful principle led Schell to conclusions closely akin 
to those of Hirscher.? His teaching was violently as- 
sailed by Father J. Stufler, S. J.2 Professor F. X. Kiefl 
defended Schell and interpreted his words more mildly. 
It is undeniable, however, because of the essential dis- 
tinction existing between the status viae and the status 
termim, that when the damned enter Hell, where grace 
ceases and conversion becomes impossible, they are smitten 
with great confusion of spirit and a corresponding 
sentiment of impenitence. Being permanently deprived 
of grace makes them enemies of God. It is not nec- 
essary to conceive this state as a sort of confirmed 
“Satanism.” No doubt there are degrees of malice and 
impenitence in Hell. But all the damned hate God more 
or less because He is no longer their friend. Herein 
lies the dreadfulness of eternal punishment. The natural 
will, being a gift of God, remains good; but it no longer 
wills that which is good. It wills the bad, or if it wills the 
good, wills it with a wrong intention. St. Thomas ex- 
plains the reason as follows: ‘“‘ The damned are abso- 
lutely turned away from the final end of the rightly di- 
rected will. The will cannot be good except it be ordered 
to that end, so that, even if [the damned] willed some- 
thing good, they would not will it in the right way, 7, e. so 

6 Dogmatik, Vol. II, Part II, pp. 8 Die Heiligkeit Gottes und der 


745 sqq. ; ewige Tod, Innsbruck 1904. 
7V. supra, p. 15. 


56 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


that their will might be called good.” ® Though such an 
exercise of the will is sinful, it entails no demerit, because 
the damned are in the status termini.1° Hence the 
damned by the sins which they commit in Hell do not 
merit an increase of the poena dammni or of the torments 
which constitute the poena sensus. This is the com- 
mon teaching of Catholic theologians, based on the wis- 
dom and justice of God.™ 


2. THE PAIN OR PUNISHMENT OF SENSE 
(PoENA SENSUS).—‘‘Pain of sense” in Catholic 
theology means a pain which is caused by a sen- 
sible medium, regardless of whether it is felt by 
the «senses, or: not,” The *external - medium 
through which the positive punishments of Hell 
are inflicted is called by Sacred Scripture fire 
(1gms, mp). Must this term be taken literally 
or may it be interpreted in a metaphorical sense? 


“The worm that dieth not” ** is undoubtedly a figure 
of speech, signifying the pangs of conscience, and hence 
there is no intrinsic reason why the word “ fire” might not 
signify mental anguish, as Origen, Ambrose Catha- 
rinus,'* Mohler,> and others have maintained. The 


9 Comment. in Sent., IV, dist. 50, 
qu. 2, art. 1: “Bt hoc ideo, quia 
sunt perfecte aversi a fine ultimo rec- 
tae voluntatis. Nec aliqua voluntas 
potest esse bona nisi per ordinem ad 
finem praedictum, unde etiam si ali- 
quid bonum velint, non tamen bene 
bonum volunt illud, ut ex hoc volun- 
tas eorum bona dici possit.” 

10 V. Ch..I, Thesis III, p. 13. 

12 -Cir,\) Chir, 


Pesch, S.J., Theo- 


logische Zeitfragen, 2te Folge; pp. 
83 sqq., Freiburg 1901; J. Lehner, 
Der Willenszustand des Siinders 
nach dem Tode, Vienna 1906. 

12 Cfr. Suarez, De Angelis, VIII, 
12% 
13 Mark IX, 43. 

14 Opuscula, ed. Lugdun., 
Pp. 145 sqq. 

15 Neue Untersuchungen, 5th ed., 

p. 318, Ratisbon 1890. 


1542, 


BELL. 57 


Church has never issued a dogmatic definition on the 
subject. Hence we are not dealing with an article of faith 
nor even with a sententia fidet proxima. However, since 
the literal interpretation is favored by the great majority 
of Fathers and Scholastics, it may be regarded as “ sen- 
tentia certa.”’ 


There must be some external medium or agent 
—(whether solid, fluid or gaseous, or in some 
state transcending the laws of nature )—by which 
the wicked are tormented, and the nature of 
which is absolutely unknown to us. In taking 
this position we oppose the naive realism of those 
who regard Hell as literally a gigantic “furnace” 
or an active volcano. 

a) In trying to ascertain the nature of the 
infernal fire, the first thing that strikes us 1s that, 
though it is physical and real, it cannot be material. 


a) Neither in its nature nor in its properties, neither 
ifi its beneficent nor in its malign effects, is the fire of 
Hell identical with, or even similar to, the material fire 
of nature. 

Sacred Scripture speaks of Hell as a “ furnace of fire,” 
a “pool of fire and brimstone,” an “ external darkness in 
which there is howling and gnashing of teeth,’ an 
“eternal fire’ prepared for the devil and his angels from 
the beginning.t* Now the devil and his angels (the 
demons), being pure spirits, cannot be affected by 
material substances such as fire and brimstone, heat 
and darkness, because they possess neither senses nor sen- 


16 V. supra, Sect. 1. 


58 THE LAST’ THINGS OF MAN 


sitive faculties. The same is true of the souls of the 
wicked during their disembodied state, 7. e. before the 
Resurrection of the flesh. | 

This fact was clearly perceived by the Fathers. Lac- 
tantius says: “The nature of that everlasting fire is dif- 
ferent from this fire of ours, which we use for the nec- 
essary purposes of life, and which ceases to burn unless 
it be sustained by the fuel of some material. But that 
divine fire always lives by itself, and burns without nour- 
ishment ; nor has it any smoke mixed with it, but it 1s pure 
and liquid and fluid, after the manner of water.” *7 St. 
Ephraem #8 and St. Basil 1° declare that the fire of Hell 
causes darkness and incessantly torments its victims, 
without however destroying them. St. Ambrose writes: 
“ Therefore it is neither a gnashing of the bodily teeth, 
nor a perpetual bodily fire, nor a bodily worm.” *° St. 
Augustine says that the fire of Hell, while it bears some 
resemblance to our material fire, is not identical with 
it.22 St. John of Damascus teaches: “The devil and 
his angels and his man, 7. e. Antichrist, as well as all 
other impious and wicked men, will be thrust into 
eternal fire, [which is] not a material fire like ours, but 
of a quality known to God.” ” 

B) A few Catholic theologians (Henry of Ghent, 
Toletus, Tanner, Lessius, and Fr. Schmid **) conceive the 


17 De Div. Inst., VII, 21. 61: “Non esse corporalia, sed si- 

18 Serm. Exeget., Opera Syriace et milia corporalibus, quibus animae 
Latine, Vol. II, p. 354. ‘corporibus exutae afficiantur.”’ 

19 In Psal., 28, 7, n. 6. 22 ox UALKOY, Olov TO Tap’ huiv. 


20In Lucam, VII, mn. 204: add’ olov dv eldcin 6 Ocds. (De 
“Ergo neque est corporalium stri- Fide Orthodoxa, IV, 27).— Several 
dor aliquis dentium neque ignis alt Fathers explain the term * eter- 
quis perpetuus flammarum cor- nal fire ”» metaphorically; cfr. Pesch, 
poralium neque vermis est corpora- Praelect. Dogmat., Vol, IX, 2nd ed., 
lis.”’ pp. 322 sq. 

21 De Genesi ad Literam, XII, 32, 23 Quaestiones Selectae, pp. 145 

sqq., Paderborn 1891. 


HELL 59 


action of the infernal fire upon the demons and the souls 
of the wicked as that of a material upon an immaterial 
substance.24 Opposed to this theory is the fact that pure 
spirits as well as disembodied souls are utterly devoid of 
sense perception. But could not God make them feel 
sensual pain by a miracle? That depends on the 
answer to another question, viz.: Is there an intrinsic 
contradiction involved in the assertion that pure spirits 
can be affected by a material substance? Neither phi- 
losophy nor Revelation gives a definite answer to this 
question. The existing uncertainty has led other theo- 
logians to devise a more plausible theory. They regard 
the effect of the fire of Hell as purely spiritual, holding 
that the constant presence of fire, which is a material 
element, occupies the intellect of the damned in a dis- 
agreeable manner and fills the will with sadness 
and aversion,”® or the fact of their being locally and in- 
separably bound up with this lowly element ** hinders the 
free activity of the spirit and thus causes internal anguish 
(per modum detentionis). The souls of the lost before 
the Resurrection, says St. Thomas, “shall suffer from 
corporeal fire by a sort of constriction (alligatio). For 
spirits can be tied to bodies, either as their form, as the 
soul is tied to the human body to give it life; or without 
being the body’s form, as magicians by diabolic power 
tie spirits to images.?7, Much more by divine power may 
spirits under damnation be tied to corporeal fire; and it 
is an affliction to them to know that they are tied to the 
meanest creatures for punishment.” This opinion is 


24Cfr. Lessius, De Div. Perf.,  ullo corpore medio? ” 


XIII, 30: “ Si ignis naturaliter per 25 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 
suum calorem potest affligere spiritum Supplement., qu. 70, art. 3._ 
hominis mediante corpore, cur idem 26 Cfr. 2 Pet. II, 4; Jude 6. 
ignis ut instrumentum Dei non po- 27 See Rickaby’s note on this pas- 


terit affligere eundem spiritum sine sage in God and His Creatures, p. 
413, London 1905. 


60 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


shared by the majority of Thomists.2* Suarez goes 
so far as to say *® that the effect of hell-fire is purely 
spiritual, disfiguring the demons and the disembodied 
souls of the lost in a manner analogous to that in which 
sanctifying grace beautifies the angels and saints. This 
theory, though it correctly emphasizes the mysterious na- 
ture of the fire, reduces it to the level of an intangible 
metaphor. 

One thing has been made certain by the subtle debates 
of the Schoolmen, namely, that the fire of Hell cannot be 
identical with material fire, but must be something at the 
same time physical and supra-physical, a punishment in- 
vented by an avenging God, of which we know nothing 
except that it exists and torments the damned. 


b) What we have so far said applies princi- 
pally to the demons, who are pure spirits; but it 
is applicable also to the souls of the wicked be- 
fore the Resurrection. 


These souls, it is true, do not lose their sensitive facul- 
ties when they leave the body. But they become incapable 
of sense perception for lack of adequate organs (brain 
and nervous system). “ Incorporeal subsistent spirits,” 
says St. Thomas, “ have no organs of sense nor the use 
of sensory powers.” °° It is different after the Resur- 
rection, when the souls are reunited with their bodies. 
“Whatever may be said of the fire which torments the 
disembodied souls,” adds the Angelic Doctor, “the fire 
that torments the bodies of the damned after the Res- 

28 Summa Contra Gent., IV, 90; sensuum non habent neque potentiis 
efr. De Veritate, qu. 26, art. 1. sensitivis utuntur.” (Summa contra 


29 De Angelis, VIII, 14. Gent., IV, 90). 
30 “ Substantiae incorporeae organa 


HELL 61 


urrection must be regarded as corporeal, because a pain 
is not adapted to the body unless it is a bodily pain.” *4 

Nevertheless, the theory we have set forth is not 
free from difficulties. It implies two strange corollaries, 
vig.: (1) that the pains of sense which the souls of the 
lost suffer in Hell differ before and after the Resur- 
rection; and (2) that the souls of wicked men through- 
out eternity suffer more intensely than the demons, for 
whom the everlasting fire was originally prepared. For 
if that fire be qualitatively the same for the demons and 
the souls of wicked men, it must cause the same kind of 
pain to both. True, the body, too, is affected; but this 
bodily pain need not be conceived as a real burning; it 
may be something entirely sui generis. We can obtain no 
certain knowledge in the matter, though the possibility of 
a real burning is undeniable. However, if we consider 
that the assumption of a material fire, or a fire analogous 
to the material, does not sufficiently account for either 
the quantitative inequality of the torments inflicted or their 
qualitative adaptability to the different kinds of sins to 
be punished, we shall be confirmed in the conviction that 
the fire of Hell in no wise resembles the material fire of 
nature.*? 


31‘ Quidquid dicatur de igne, qui human _ speech affords to tell us 
animas separatas cruciat, de igne what that terrible thing is. ‘ Ever- 
tamen, quo cruciabuntur corpora lasting fire’ is not a figurative ex- 
damnatorum post resurrectionem, pression; it occurs in a judicial sen- 
oportet dicere, quod sit corporeus, tence. Judges in passing sentence 
quia corpori non potest convenienter do not use figurative language; not 
adaptari poena, nisi sit corporea.’”’ in any figurative or metaphorical 
(Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. 79, | sense shall you be “ hung by the neck 
arts): till you are dead.’ At the same 

32 Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S. J., says time we have no exact and certain 
in a recent brochure (Everlasting knowledge of the precise nature of 
Punishment, pp. 7-11, London 1916): the fire of hell. Is it exactly like 
“The fire of hell is real fire: the fire of earth? But what exactly 
that is to say, the word fire is the is the fire of earth? What is com- 
most proper and exact word which  bustion? Not till the end of the 


62 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


But if this be true, why does Sacred Scripture call the 


mysterious medium of eternal punishment “ fire ”’? 
not “water,” or “snow,” or “ ether”? 


eighteenth century was man able to 
reply, ‘ combustion is rapid combina- 
tion with oxygen.’ Our ancestors 
did not scientifically know what fire 
was. They thought it was a ‘ sub- 
stance,’ an ‘element,’ the lightest 
and in natural position the highest 
of the four elements, fire, air, water, 
and earth, out of which all bodies 
were composed. So then the fire of 
hell, if it really was fire, they 
thought must be a substance too. 
So it well may be, but we must 
speak cautiously. Modern science 
presents us with heat, fire, light, and 
electricity, and tells us that they 
are all so many, not substances or 
elements, but modes of motion affect- 
ing substance, whatever substance 
may be. They are most abundant 
things in nature: the fixed stars 
are all on fire; electricity is sus- 
pected of being a primary constituent 
of matter. We know much more 
about these things than our an- 
cestors did: still we are in great 
perplexity over them, indeed our 
perplexities grow with our knowl- 
edge. Such is our ignorance of the 
fire of this world, matter though it 
be of our daily experience. Of a 
fire such as that in which angels and 
disembodied souls burn, happily we 
have no experience. And beyond 
teaching us that there is such a fire, 
real fire, Christian revelation does 
not go. It would be therefore ex- 
tremely rash, beyond the existence 
(an sit) of such a fire, to pretend to 
lay down with certainty its nature, 
qualities, composition, and mode of 
action (quid sit). The Church does 
not do so. Her theologians echo St. 
Augustine’s words: ‘As to which 
fire, of what sort, and in what part 


Why 
The answer is 


of the world or universe it is to be, 
I am of opinion that no man knows, 
unless haply some one to whom the 
Spirit of God has shown it” (Qui 
ignis cujusmodi et in qua mundi vel 
rerum parte futurus sit hominem 
scire arbitror neminem, nisi forte cui 
Spiritus divinus revelavit.— De Ci- 
vitate Dei, xx. 16). There is, how- 
ever, a general consent of the faith- 
ful to regard it as a ‘ material ’ fire, 
and though this be not absolutely of 
faith, still it cannot be denied with- 
out incurring the theological note 
of ‘rashness.’? In accordance with 
this general consent I have described 
it as ‘a material environment.’ A 
further speculation: is this material 
environment itself on fire, or is it 
such that the soul chafing and strug- 
gling against that constraint —‘ the 
great net of slavery,’ wéya dovdelas 
yayyauov, to borrow a phrase of 
“Eschylus — and, as St. Teresa says, 
‘continually tearing herself in 
pieces ’— thereby sets herself on 
fire? The question is beyond our 
knowledge to answer. We are ac- 
customed to pictures of flames, with 
souls in bodily shapes writhing in 
them, and in such sensible repres- 
entations we must fain acquiesce 
as being the best way to bring home 
to imagination the reality of hell- 
fire. God knows His own justice, 


‘which in hell at any rate works 


so as by fire. 

“Over and above this material en- 
vironment I have been myself led 
to argue the probability of the 
Spiritual substance of the soul, or 
evil angel, itself coming truly to 
burn under two opposing constraints, 
the natural constraint, or effort, of 
the spirit, seeking to go out to God, 


HELL 63 


easy to guess. 
caused by fire. 


The most intense pain known to man is 
We can no more form an adequate 


conception of the nature of eternal punishment and its 
medium than of the beatitude of Heaven,** and hence 
the sacred writer could hardly have chosen a more ap- 
propriate phrase than “Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire,’ *+ even in a context where meta- 
phorical expressions are otherwise avoided. If Christ 
had called the infernal fire by its true name, we should 
not have understood His meaning as well as we do now. 


in whom alone, as it finds out too 
late, its essential happiness lies, and 
to the contrary, the constraining 
hand of God, driving that spirit 
back upon itself. (By ‘the con- 
straining hand of God’ I do not 
mean the ‘ material environment.’ I 
mean simply God’s will to carry out 


the sentence, ‘Depart from me’). 


Under analogous constraint, any 
material substance, as all physicists 
now know, would grow hot and 
glow intensely. The laws of mat- 
ter may well have their analogue in 
the spirit world. If this be so, the 
mere depart from me must involve 
everlasting fire. If this be so again, 
the wicked spirit has made its own 
hell, having first rejected the God 
who now rejects it. Also, if this 
be so, it becomes transparently clear 
that as Heaven means God, so hell 
means no God; and no God is just 
what the obstinate impenitent sin- 
ner has chosen to have in this life, 
and consequently in the next. This, 
however, is a speculation. It makes 
the fire of hell very real and very 
terrible. For what is terrible in a 
fire is not the medium in which 
you are placed, but how you your- 
self burn. 

“There are two perfectly distinct 
fires of hell, arising from quite dis- 


tinct causes. There is first what I 
have called ‘a material environ- 
ment,’ ‘some external objective en- 
vironment,’ producing in the soul 
plunged into it a pain which to us, 
with our human experiences, is most 
properly declared by calling it the 
pain of fire. Of the nature of this 
material environment I have no idea, 
no theory, any more than St. Au- 
gustine had. I accept the fact of 
it simply because I wish to keep 
my rank in the common herd of 
Christian believers. Secondly, there 
is the loss of God; and about that, 
what I have had to say comes to 
this, that considering the relation in 
which the soul stands to its Last 
End, the mere felt loss of God, 
apart from all other agency, may, 
on an analogy drawn from the physi- 
cal to the spiritual, be enough to set 
the substance of the soul veritably 
on fire. The ‘mighty constraining 
force,’ which I have invoked for 
this theory, is something quite over 
and above the ‘material environ- 
ment.’ It is God’s refusal of the 
soul, driving it away from Him, a 
refusal called a force only by anal- 
ogy with things physical.” 
83-1 Cor. 11,9: 
34 Matth. XXV, 41. 


64 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


For all these reasons we deem it advisable to confess our 
ignorance in a matter that plainly exceeds human under- 
standing, rather than engage in speculations which might 
easily lead us into error. Let us live so that we need not 
fear the mysterious fire of Hell.*® 


3. ACCIDENTAL PAINS OF THE DAMNED.—Be- 
sides the pain of loss and the pain of sense, which 
together constitute the essence of Hell, the 
damned suffer various accidental punishments. 
There is first and above all the remorse of 
conscience, which the Bible compares to a worm 
that will not die.** This and other accidental 
pains are all the more terrible as the damned 
never experience the slightest alleviation of their 
suffering and are compelled to live forever in 
the company of demons and witness their hid- 
eous outbursts of rage and hatred. The reunion 
of soul and body after the Resurrection will fur- 
ther increase the misery of the lost souls in Hell. 


85 Cfr. Knabenbauer, Comment. in Christentums, 3rd ed., pp. 607 sqq., 
Matth., Vol. II, pp. 384 sq., Paris Freiburg 1912. 
1894; Scheeben, Die Mysterien des 86 Mark IX, 43. 


SECTION 3 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PAINS OF HELL 


The pains of Hell have two distinguishing 
characteristics: (1) they are eternal and (2) they 
differ in degree according to guilt. 

I. THE Parns oF HELL ARE ETERNAL.—In 
consequence of the erroneous teaching of Origen, 
the Church early in her history defined the 
eternity of Hell as an article of faith. She did 
this at the Council of Constantinople, in 543. 
The definition given by this Council was approved 
by the Fifth Ecumenical Council of 553." The 
Athanasian Creed, which was compiled about the 
same time, says: “They that have done good 
shall go into everlasting bliss, and they that have 
done evil, into everlasting fire.” * This truth was 
repeated in similar terms by the Fourth Council 
of the Lateran.2 The Protestant Reformers did 
not attack the dogma of eternal punishment, and 
hence the Tridentine Synod contented itself with 
declaring: “If any one saith that in every good 


1Cfr. Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, nem aeternum,” (Denzinger-Bann- 
Vol. IT, § -257: wart, n. 40). : 
2“ Qui bona egerunt, ibunt in vt- 3 V. supra, p. 46. 


tam aeternam, qui vero mala, in ig- 


65 


66 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


. and consequently 
. let him be 


work the just man sins, 
deserves eternal punishments, . 
anathema.”’ # 

a) The dogma of eternal punishment is clearly 
contained in Sacred Scripture. The prophet 
Daniel proclaims: ‘Many of those that sleep in 
the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life 
everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it 
always.” ° The New Testament speaks repeat- 
edly of an eternal and inextinguishable fire.° St. 
John says in the Apocalypse: “And the beast 
and the false prophet shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever.” ‘ 


Though saeculum (aiev) is sometimes used indefinitely 
to denote a period of long duration,’ its meaning in this 
passage obviously is eternity. The phrase im saecula sae- 
culorum always has this meaning in the New Testa- 
ment, whether referring to the glory of God,° the king- 
dom of Christ, #° or the joys of Heaven. St. Augustine 
has pointed out that there is no stronger argument for the 
eternity of Hell than the fact that Sacred Scripture com- 
pares it in respect of duration to Heaven.1? This rea- 
8 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God: His 


Knowability, Essence, and Attributes, 
pp. 306 sqq. 


4Sess. VI, can. 25: “St quis 
dixerit, iustum in quolibet opere bono 
peccare . .. atque ideo poenas aeter- 


nas mereri, anathema sit.” 

5 Dan. XII, 2: “ Et multi de his, 
qui dormiunt in terrae pulvere, evi- 
gilabunt: alu in vitam aeternam, et 
alii in opprobrium ut videant sem- 
per.” 

6V. supra, Sect. 1. 

TADOCI DON TOR ui eb UD eSIIG 
et pseudopropheta cruciabuntur die 
ac nocte in saecula saeculorum.” 


OVE atin, Lot eye Gai e VaenT Sy 
Galelinc: VAnoceewy sare 

VON pocs 1, piss, eye Se 

11 Apoc, XXII, 5. 

12 De Civitate Det, XXI, 23: “ Si 
utrumque aeternum, profecto aut 
utrumque cum fine diuturnum aut 
utrumque sine fine perpetuum debet 
intellegl; par pari enim relata sunt,” 


HELL 67 


soning is confirmed by the Biblical teaching that the fate 
of every man is irrevocably sealed at death? That there 
is no hope of salvation for the wicked in Hell may be con- 
cluded from our Saviour’s dictum, “It were better for 
him if that man had never been born.” | 


b) The Fathers echo the teaching of Scrip- 
ture. St. Polycarp tells his executioners: “You 
threaten me with fire, which burns but for an 
hour 1° and then is extinguished; for you know 
not the eternal fire of punishment reserved for the 
wicked.” 1° Minucius Felix says: “There is 
neither measure nor termination to these tor- 
ments. There the intelligent fire (ip cwppovoir ) 
burns the limbs and restores them, feeds on them 
and nourishes them. . . . So that penal fire is not 
fed by the waste of those who burn, but is nour- 
ished by the unexhausted eating away of their 
bodies.” ** 


“ Origen held that all free creatures, demons as well as 
lost souls, will ultimately share in the grace of salvation 
(apocatastasis). This heretical teaching to some extent 
influenced even such enlightened writers as Didymus the 


13 V. supra, Sect. 1, No, 2, Thes. 


a 

14 Matth., XXVI, 24: “... bo- 
num erat ei, si natus non fuisset 
homo ille.”’ 

15 wpos dpap. 

16 gidyiov Koddcews mip. (Mar- 
tyr. Polyc., XI, 2; Funk, Patres 
Apost., I, 295). 

17 Octavius, 35: ‘‘ Nec tormentis 
aut modus ullus aut terminus. Illic 
sapiens ignis membra urit et reficit, 


carpit et nutrit. . . . Ita poenale il- 
lud incendium non damnis ardentium 
pascitur, sed imexesa corporum la- 
ceratione -nutritur.”’ Some editors 
have changed sapiens to rapiens, but 
there is no need of this, as mup 
owppovouv is an expression of Clem- 
ens Alexandrinus. (See R. E. Wal- 
lis, The Writings of Cyprian, Vol. 
II, p. 509, n. 1, Edinburgh 1860). 
For additional Patristic testimonies 
see Petavius, De Angelis, III, 8, 4. 


68 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


Blind, Evagrius of Pontus, and St. Gregory of Nyssa.78 
It is not true, however, as some writers assert, that St. 
Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Jerome denied the dogma 
of eternal punishment.’® 


c) The proposition, “Ex inferno nulla redemp- 
tio,’ can be demonstrated also by theological rea- 
soning. 

If it were possible to rescue a lost soul from 
Hell, this could only be in one of four ways: 
by conversion, by an apocatastasis in the sense 
of Origen, by complete annihilation, or through 
the intercession of the living. | 


The first and second of these methods have been ex- 
cluded by positive arguments, which incidentally also 
prove the impossibility of the fourth. St. Augustine 
expressly says that the damned do not receive the slightest 
alleviation of their sufferings through the intercession of 
the living.° Some Fathers and theologians, particu- 
larly St. Chrysostom? and the poet Prudentius,” held 
that now and then, on stated days, as in the night before 
Easter, God grants the damned a certain respite through 
the prayers of the faithful. Petavius 7° judges this hy- 
pothesis mildly, whereas St. Thomas rejects it as vain, 


presumptuous, and without authority.” 


18 Cfr. Kleinheidt, Gregori Nyss. 
Doctrina de Angelis, pp. 48 saqq., 
Freiburg 1860; Hilt, Des hl. Gregor 
von Nyssa Lehre vom Menschen, 
Cologne 1890. 

19 Cfr. Pesch, Praelect. Dogmat., 
Vol. IX, 2nd ed., pp. 309 sqqa.— On 
the eternity of Hell see Bautz, Die 
Holle, 2nd ed., pp. 56 sqq., Mayence 
1905. 


The singing of 


20 De Civitate Dei, XXI, 24. Else- 
where, however (e. g. Enchir., 110) 
he seems to take a different view. 

21-Hom, 4n Eps ad. Phil.y 2,-n. 3. 

22 Hymn., V, 125 sqq., in Migne, 
Jp al Gab ld ence y ps 

23 De Angelis, III, 8. 

24 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. 
71, art. 5: “Est praedicta opinio 
praesumptuosa, utpote dictis sancto- 


HELL 69 


a certain hymn by St. Prudentius at the lighting of the 
Paschal candle is not equivalent to an ecclesiastical ap- 
proval of the author’s belief.*° 

The only other means by which a reprobate could 
escape eternal punishment is complete annihilation. The 
Socinians thus interpret “ the second death” of the Apo- 
calypse. But this interpretation is contrary to the teach- 
ing of St. John. Cfr. Apoc. XIV, 11: “ The smoke of 
their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever.” *® 
Apoc. XX, 14: “And hell and death were cast into the 
pool of fire; this is the second death.” ** St. Paul, too, 
plainly avers that the damned are punished forever. 
“The wicked,” he says, ‘‘ will pay the penalty of everlast- 
ing ruin, from before the face of the Lord and the glory 
of his might.” 28 Tradition is equally positive. St. Cyp- 
rian declares that the fire of Hell is everlasting and no 
respite is granted to the damned.” St. Gregory, in a char- 
acteristic passage of his Expositio in Librum Job, gener- 
ally known by the title of Moralia, calls Hell “ mors sine 
morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu, quia et mors 
vivit et finis semper incipit et deficere defectus nescit.” °° 


d) Philosophy cannot furnish conclusive evi- 
dence for the eternity of Hell, but it can show 
that this truth is not repugnant to reason and 


282 Thess. I, 9: “ Qui poenas 
dabunt in interitu aeternas (dikny 


rum contraria et vana, nulla aucto- 
ritate fulta.” 


25 Cfr. H. Hurter, S.J., Compen- 
dium Theologiae Dogmat., Vol. III, 
n. 808, 

26 Apoc. XIV, 11: kal 6 Kamvos 
Tov Bacavicuov avtwy els alwvas 
alwvwv davaBaiver. 

27 Apoc. XX, 14: kal 6 Odvaros 
Kal ans EBAHOnoay els THY Niuyny 
rou ups. ovros 6 Odvatos 34 
devrepds éori (Cir. Apoc. XXI, 8.) 


tisovow breOpov aiwyiov) a facie 

Domini et a gloria virtutis eius.” 
29 Ad Demetr., 24: “ Cremabit 

addictos ardens semper gehenna et 

vivacibus fammis vorax poena. Nec 

erit, unde habere tormenta vel re- 

quiem possint aliquando vel finem.” 
30 Moralia, IX, 66. 


70 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


that the objections raised against it prove Boa 


a) When the wicked soul enters into the status termint, 
it realizes that it is irrevocably lost. God, who alone 
could save it, refuses to do so. ‘‘ He who falls into 
mortal sin by his own free will,” says St. Thomas, “ puts 
himself into a state from which he cannot be rescued 
except with the help of God, just as one who casts him- 
self into an abyss from which he could not escape un- 
aided, might say that it was his will to stay there for- 
ever, no matter what else he may have thought. sees Sele 
final decision being irrevocable, the will is confirmed in 
malice and can no longer feel contrition.®? 

Moreover, punishment must be coextensive with guilt. 
The guilt of mortal sin consists in the deprivation of grace, 
which loss, for those who have entered upon the status 
termini, is irretrievable, and consequently the reatus 
poenae, too, must be eternal. ‘Therefore,’ says St. 
Thomas, “whatever sins turn man away from God, so 
as to destroy charity, considered in themselves, incur 
a debt of eternal punishment.” 33 

8) It has been objected that there is no proportion be- 
tween a sinful act or thought, which lasts but one brief 
moment, and eternal punishment. The comparison is 
not correctly drawn. Though the sinful act (peccatum 


31 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. - 82 Cfr. Op. cit., qu. 98, art. 1 sqq. 
99, art. 1: “ Qui in peccatum mor- 33 Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 87, 
tale labitur propria voluntate, se art. 3: ‘Et ideo quaecunque pec- 
ponit in statu, a quo erui non pot- cata avertunt a Deo caritatem au- 
est nist divinitus adiutus; sicut si ferentia, quantum est de se, indu- 
aliquis se in foveam proticeret, unde cunt reatum aeternae poenae.’”’— 
exire non posset, nisi adiutus, posset Other arguments apud Sachs, Die 
dict quod in aeternum ibi manere ewige Dauer der Hollenstrafen, 
voluerit, quantumcunque aliter co- Paderborn 1900. 
gitaret.”’ 


HELL 71 


actuale) be brief and transient, the ensuing sinful habitus 
or state endures. St. Thomas explains this with his 
wonted lucidity as follows: “The fact that adultery or 
murder is committed in a moment, does not call for a 
momentary punishment; in fact, these crimes are some- 
times punished by imprisonment or banishment for life, 


sometimes even by death; ... this punishment, in its 
own way, represents the eternity of punishment inflicted 
by, God.” ** 


The so-called misericordes, whom St. Augustine com- 
batted,*®> appealed to the mercy of God as an argu- 
ment against eternal punishment. But God is not only 
merciful, He is also infinitely just and holy, and His 
justice and holiness compel Him to hate and punish sin 
in proportion to its guilt. The divine mercy is not a 
weakly sentimentality, but benevolent goodness tempered 
by strict justice. If there were any chance of conversion 
in the other world, or any hope that Hell might end, 
even after millions of years, how few would shrink from 
sin!®¢ The thought of eternal punishment alone deters 
the average man from crime. 

St. Gregory of Nyssa’s friendly attitude towards Ori- 
gen’ s theory of a universal apocatastasis is explicable on 
the assumption that he regarded the reform of the evil- 
doer as the sole object of punishment. This view is in- 
correct. Punishment is inflicted primarily to satisfy di- 
vine justice and to vindicate and restore the disturbed 
moral order (poena vindicativa).2" Not even worldly 


34 Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 87, tatem poenae divinitus inflictae.”’ 


art. 3, ad 31: ‘‘ Non enim quia 35 De Civitate Dei, XXI, 18, 1. 
adulterium vel homicidium in mo- 36 Cfr. St. Jerome, In Joa., 3, 6 
mento committitur, propter hoc mo- (Migne, Pi £5, (XXV,. 1342). 
mentaneG poend punitur, sed quan- 87 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God: His 
doque quidem perpetuo carcere vel Knowability, Essence, and Attributes, 
exilio, quandoque etiam morte,... pp. 460 sqq. 


et sic repraesentat suo modo aeternt- 


72 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


justice can get along without vindictive punishments, 
though Lombroso and Liszt have tried to abolish them by 
declaring all crimes to be the result of bodily disease or 
mental disorder. “ Even the punishment that is inflicted 
according to human laws,” says St. Thomas, “is not al- 
ways intended as a medicine for the one who is punished, 
but sometimes only for others. Thus when a thief is 
hanged, this is not done for his own amendment, but for 
the sake of others, that at least they may be deterred 
from crime through fear of punishment.” * 

Another objection raised against the dogma of eternal 
punishment is based upon the desire for happiness which 
the Creator has implanted in every human heart. But 
God is not obliged to gratify this desire in all men. He 
has conditioned eternal happiness upon a good life. If 
the innate desire for happiness remains unsatisfied in 
some, it is their fault, not God’s. 

It is true that the happiness of rational creatures is the 
secondary purpose of creation; but, as we have seen in a 
previous treatise,*® this purpose is subordinate to the glory 
of God (gloria Det), which is attained by the manifesta- 
tion of His justice no less than His mercy. 


2. THE Pains or HeLtt DIFFER IN DEGREE 
ACCORDING To GUILT.—Though one single mor- 
tal sin renders the sinner as deserving of Hell asa 
thousand crimes, justice demands that sins be pun- 
ished in proportion to their grievousness. Ac- 


38 Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 87, detur, sed propter alios, ut saltem 
art. 3, ad 2: “ Poena, quae etiam metu poenae peccare desistant.” 
secundum leges humanas infligitur, 39 Pohle-Preuss, God the Author 
non semper est medicinalis et, qui of Nature and the Supernatural, pp. 
punitur, sed solum alts; sicut quum 80 sqq. 
latro suspenditur, non ut ipse emen- 


a 


HELL 73 


cordingly, to the degrees of reward and happiness 
enjoyed by the Blessed in Heaven there corre- 
spond analogous degrees of punishment and mis- 
ery in Hell. This is the express teaching of the 
Church.*° 

a) Our Divine Saviour draws a clear-cut dis- 
tinction between the judgment pronounced on 
Tyre and Sidon and the penalty inflicted on the 
unbelieving inhabitants of Corozain and Beth- 
saida. The inspired seer of the Apocalypse says 
of the corrupt city of Babylon: “Render to her 
even as herself hath rendered, and give her dou- 
ble according to her works; . . . as much as she 
hath glorified herself and wantoned in luxury, 
so much give her of torment and mourning.” * 
Gir. Wisd. V1, 7 sqq.: “. ... the mighty:shallbe 
mightily tormented, . . . a greater punishment is 
ready for the more mighty.” * 

_b) The Fathers seem to have held that the 
poena damm, being a mere privation, is inflicted 
equally on all, but that the poenae sensus differ 
in degree. Thus St. Gregory the Great says: 
“As there are many mansions in the house of the 
Father, according to the different degrees of vir- 
tue, so the disparity of guilt subjects the damned 


40“ Poenis tamen  disparibus.” in deliciis fuit, tantum date illi tor- 


(Conc. Florent., A. D, 1439). mentum et luctum.” 
41 Apoc. XVIII, 6 sq.: “ Reddite 42 ‘‘ Potentes autem potenter tor- 
tlli sicut et ipsa reddidit vobis; et  menta patientur, . . . fortioribus, 


duplicate ei duplicia secundum opera autem fortior instat cruciatio.” 
eius; ... quantum glorificavit se et 


74 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


in different degrees to the fire of Hell.” ** Dante 
exemplifies this belief in the concentric circles of 
his Inferno. Of course only a mysterious and 
essentially supernatural fire can produce such 
radically different effects. 


READINGS : — Patuzzi, De Futuro Impiorum Statu, Venice 1749. 
—Carle, Du Dogme Catholique sur PEnfer, Paris 1842—J. 
Bautz, Die Holle, 2nd ed., Mayence 1905.—L. de Ségur, L’Enfer, 
30th ed., Paris 1905 (German tr., Die Holle, 3rd ed., Mayence 
1889.) —Fr. Schmid, Quaestiones Selectae ex Theologia Dog- 
matica, pp. 145 sqq., Paderborn 1891.—Tournelize, Opinions du 
Jour sur les Peines d’Outre-tombe: Feu Métaphorique, Univer- 
salisme, Conditionalisme, Mitigation, Paris 1899.— Passaglia, De 
Aeternitate Poenarum deque Igne Inferno, Rome 1854.— J. Sachs, 
Die ewige Dauer der Hollenstrafen, Paderborn 1900.— C. Gutber- 
let, “ Die Poena Sensus,’ in the Mayence Katholik, 1901, II, 305 
sqq.— F. X. Kiefl, Die Ewigkeit der Holle und ihre spekulative 
Begriindung, Paderborn 1905.— J. Hontheim, S.J., art. “ Hell,” in 
the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pp. 207-211.— Card. Billot, 
De Novissimis, Rome 1902.— Hewitt, “Jgnus Aeternus,’ in the 
Catholic World, LXVII (1893), pp. 426 sqq—V. Morton, 
Thoughts on Hell; A Study in Eschatology, London 1899.— Jos. 
Rickaby, S.J., Everlasting Punishment, London 1916.— Dublin 
Review, Jan. 1881, Vol. V, pp. 130 sqq.— Charles R. Roche, S.J., 
“Eternal Punishment,” in the Irish Theological Quarterly, Vol. 
V (1910), No. 17, pp. 64-79.— Delloue-Leahy, Solution of the 
Great Problem, New York 1917, pp. 228 sqq.—J. G. Raupert, 
Hell and its Problems, Buffalo, N. Y., 1917.—B. J. Otten, S.J., 
A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918, 
pp. 426 sqq.— J. S. Vaughan, “Eternal Punishment,” in the Jrish 
Eccles. Record, No. 615 (March, 1919), pp. 177-188. 

43 Moral., IV, 47: ‘“Sicut in diverso supplicio gehennae ignibus 


domo Patris mansiones multae sunt  subiicit disparitas criminis.”’ 
pro diversitate virtutis, sic damnatos 


CHAPTER V 
PURGATORY 
SECTION x 
THE EXISTENCE OF PURGATORY 


1. DEFINITION.—Purgatory (purgatorium) sig- 
nifies a process of cleansing. 


a) Whether Purgatory is a place or a state is a contro- 
verted question. The poor souls are in a state of transi- 
tion, but it is not necessary to hold that they are confined 
in any particular place. St. Thomas intimates that Pur- 
gatory is somehow “connected with Hell.”? We might 
with equal probability argue that it is connected with 
Heaven, because the poor souls are children of God, who 
are sure to be admitted sooner or later to the abode of 
the Blessed.” 


b) Not all who depart this life in the state of 
grace are fit to enter at once into the beatific 
vision of God. Some are burdened with venial 
transgressions. Others have not yet fully ex- 


1Summa Theol., Appendix, qu. 1, ise, De Purgatorio, II, 6. That 
art,.2. Purgatory is situated in the bowels 
2 The various views regarding the of the earth is as undemonstrable as 
location of Purgatory are set forth the location of Heaven and Hell. 
by Cardinal Bellarmine in his treat 


me 


76 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


piated the temporal punishments due to their sins.° 
It would be repugnant to divine justice to admit 
such souls to Heaven, into which, according to 
Holy Writ, nothing defiled shall enter.* Nor can 
God in his justice consign these souls to Hell. 
Hence there must be a middle state in which they 
are cleansed of venial sins, or, if they have not yet 
fully paid the temporal punishments due to their 
forgiven sins, must expiate the remainder of 
them. St. Thomas says: “There may be some 
impediment on the part of the good in the way of 
their souls receiving their final reward in the vis- 
ion of God immediately upon their departure from 
the body. To that vision, transcending as it does 
all natural created capacity, the creature cannot 
be raised before it is entirely purified: hence it is 
said that nothing defiled can enter into it (Wisd. 
VII, 25), and that the polluted shall not pass 
through it (Is. XXXV, 8). Now the pollution 
of the soul is by sin, which is an inordinate union 
with lower things; from which pollution it is puri- 
fied in this life by Penance and other Sacraments. 
Now it happens sometimes that this process of 
purification is not entirely accomplished in this 
life, and the offender remains still a debtor with a 
debt of punishment upon him, owing to some neg- 


8 Cfr. Concil. Trident., Sess. IV, in eam [scil. civitatem] aliquod cotn- 
can, 30; Pohle-Preuss, The Sacra- quinatum, aut abominationem fa- 
ments, Vol. III, p. 219. ciens, et mendacium.. .” 

4Apoc. XXI, 27: “‘ Non intrabit 


PURGATORY 77 


ligence or distraction, or to death overtaking him 
before his debt is paid. Not for this does he de- — 
serve to be entirely shut out from reward: because 
all this may happen without mortal sin, and it is 
only mortal sin that occasions the loss of charity, 
to which the reward of life everlasting is due. 
Such persons, then, must be cleansed in the next 
life, before entering upon their eternal reward. 
This cleansing is done by penal inflictions, as even 
in this life it might have been completed by penal 
works of satisfaction: otherwise the negligent 
would be better off than the careful, if the penalty 
that men do not pay here for their sins is not to be 
undergone by them in the life to come. The 
souls, then, of the good, who have upon them in 
this world something that needs cleansing, are 
kept back from their reward, while they endure 
cleansing purgatorial pains. And this is the rea- 
son why we posit a purgatory or place of cleans- 
ig? 

Purgatory may therefore be defined as a state 
of temporary punishment for those who, depart- 
ing this life in the grace of God, are not entirely 
free from venial sins or have not yet fully paid the 
satisfaction due to their transgressions. 

2. ProoF FROM REVELATION.—The existence 
of Purgatory was denied by Aérius in the fourth 


5 Summa c. Gent., IV, 91. (Rickaby, Of God and His 
Creatures, p. 415.) 


98 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


century, by the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Hus- 
sites in the Middle Ages, and more recently by 
Luther and Calvin. Calvin termed the Catholic 
dogma “a pernicious invention of Satan, which 
renders the cross of Christ useless.” * This teach- 
ing of the Reformers is quite consistent with their 
false idea of justification. If a man is justified 
by faith alone, and all his sins are “covered up” 
by the grace of Christ, there can be nothing left 
for him to expiate after death. 

The Church defined the existence of Purgatory 
in the Decree of Union adopted at Florence 
(1439), saying that “the souls are cleansed by 
purgatorial pains after death, and in order that 
they may be rescued from these pains, they are 
benefitted by the suffrages of the living faithful, 
vig.: the sacrifice of the Mass, prayers, alms, and 
other works of piety.” * The Council of Trent 
repeated this definition in substance: “. .. The 
Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, 
has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tra- _ 
dition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils, 
and very recently in this ecumenical Synod,’ that 
there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained 


6 Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio, iusmodi releventur, prodesse eis 


BE 

7°“ Exitiale satanae commentum, 
quod Christi crucem  evacuat.” 
(Inst., III, 5, § 6). 

8‘ Animas poenis purgatoriis post 


mortem purgari et, ut a poenis hu- 


fidelium vivorum suffragia, missarum 
scil, sacrificia, orationes et elemosy- 
nas et alia pietatis officia.””’ (Denz- 
inger-Bannwart, n. 693). 

9 Sess. VI, can. 30; Sess. XXII, 
cap. 2 and 3. 


PURGATORY 79 


in it are helped by the suffrages of the faith-_ 
ful.” '° Pope Leo X solemnly condemned Lu- 
ther’s assertion that “Purgatory cannot be proved 
from the canonical Scriptures.” ** 

a) The scriptural locus classicus for our 
dogma is 2 Mach. XII, 43 sqq. When Judas had 
put Gorgias to flight, and came with his company 
to take away the bodies of the slain, he found that 
some of them had under their coats treasures 
of which they had robbed the idols at Jamnia. 
In committing this robbery the soldiers had 
probably been moved by avarice rather than 
idolatrous intent. Yet their conduct was plainly 
a transgression of the Mosaic law, which said: 
“Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire; 
thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which 
they are made, neither shalt thou make to thee any 
thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an 
abomination to the Lord thy God.” ** However, 
what these soldiers had done was not necessarily a 
mortal sin, and so Judas and his men, after bless- 
ing the just judgment of God, betook themselves 
to prayer, and “making a gathering [taking up 
a collection], he sent twelve thousand drachmas 
of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered 
for the sins of the dead.” Both Judas and his 


10 Sess. XXV: “. . . purgatorium 11 Prop, Damn. a Leone X., prop. 
esse animasque ibi detentas fidelium 37: ‘‘ Purgatorium non potest pyo- 
suffragiis, potissimum vero accepta- bari ex Scriptura, quae sit im ca- 


bili altaris sacrificio iuvari.” (Den- none.” 
zinger-Bannwart, n. 983). 12 Deut. VII, 2s. 


80 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


people, as well as the priests of the Temple, evi- 
dently believed that those who die in the grace 
of God can obtain forgiveness of venial sins 
and temporal punishments through the suf- 
frages of the living. This belief is confirmed by 
the sacred writer when headds: “It is therefore 
a holy and wholesome thought ** to pray for the 
dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” ** 


Protestants deny the cogency of this argument on the 
ground that the Book of Machabees is apocryphal. But 
the historical authenticity of the incident sufficiently 
proves that belief in Purgatory, so far from being an in- 
vention of the “ Papists,” was common among the Jews 
long before the beginning of the Christian era.” 


From the New Testament we will quote the 
remarkable utterance of our Lord recorded in 
Matth. XII, 32: ‘‘Whosoever shall speak... 
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven 
him neither in this world, nor in the world to 
come.” 1 The “world to come” (aiev péddvv) 
plainly means life after death. Hence, ac- 
cording to our Saviour’s own testimony, there 
must be some sins that are forgiven after death.” 


183 écia Kal evoeBns émivo.a. 

14795 duaptias dmodvOjvar. (2 
Mach. XII, 45). 

15 Cfr. Mayer, Das Judentum, pp. 
465 sqq., Ratisbon 1893. 

16 Matth. XII, 32: “ Qui autem 
dixerit [verbum] contra Spiritum 
sanctum, non remittetur ei neque in 
hoc saeculo neque in futuro.” 


17 This interpretation is favored 
by Augustine (De Civ. Dei, XXI, 
24) and other Fathers (see Hurter, 
Compendium Theol. Dogmat., Vol. 
III, n. 823). St. Gregory the Great, 
e. g., teaches: “In qua sententta 
datur intellegi, quasdam culpas in 
hoc saeculo, quasdam vero in futuro 
posse relaxari,” (Dial., IV, 29). 


PURGATORY (i. SI 


b) The belief of the early Church is evident 
from the immemorial custom of praying for the 
dead, offering the Holy Sacrifice, and giving alms 
for their benefit. 


Tertullian mentions anniversary masses for the dead.** 
That he had Purgatory in mind appears from his advice 
to a widow, “to pray for the soul of her husband, beg- 
ging repose for him, and .. . to have sacrifice offered 
up for him every year on the day of his death.” *° 

This pious custom is confirmed by many sepulchral 
inscriptions found in the catacombs, in which the de- 
parted ask for the prayers of their surviving friends or 
beg God for “ peace and refreshment.” ?° 

The Fathers expressly inculcate the doctrine which 
inspired these pious practices. In the Acts of St. Per- 
petua we read that she beheld her brother Dinocrates, 
who had died a heathen and was “suffering terrible 
torments, released from the place of punishment through 
her prayers.” ?? St. Basil affirms the existence of “a 
place for the purification of souls” and of “a cleansing 
fire.” 22. St. Augustine appeals to his friends to pray for 
his pious mother, St. Monica, and instructs them as to 
the most effective way of helping her soul.?* There is 
no doubt,” he says in another place, “that the dead are 

18 De Corona Mil., 3: ‘‘ Obla- Deus refrigeret.”’— Cfr. Kraus, Real- 
tiones pro defunctis annua die faci- enzyklopddie der christlichen Alter- 
mus.” tiimer, Vol. II, s. v. ** Refrigerium,” 


19 De Monogamia, 10: “Debet Freiburg 1886;.J. P. Kirsch, Die 
pro anima eius orare et refrigerium  Akklamationen und Gebete der alt- 


interim adpostulare ei et... of-  christlichen Grabinschriften, Co- 
ferre annuis diebus dormitionis logne 1898. 

suae.’’— For other Patristic testimo- 21 Acta Martyr. S. Perpetuae et 
nies see Pohle-Preuss, The Sacra-  Socior. ; 

ments, Vol. II, pp. 376 sq. 22 ywplov Kabapionov Yuya; — 


20“ Pax et refrigeratio,” as e.g.  xaOdpovov mvp. (In Is., IX, 19). 
in the formula: ‘“‘ Spiritum tuum 23 Confess., IX, 13. 


82 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


aided by the prayers of holy Church, by the salutary sacri- 
fice, and by the alms which are poured out for their 
SOUIS Aen 

These passages from the writings of the Fathers could 
easily be multiplied. Even Calvin was constrained to 
admit that the custom of praying for the dead may be 
traced to the early days of Christianity.2° Thinking Prot- 
estants keenly feel the gap in their theological system 
caused by the denial of Purgatory. Thus Dr. Hase says: 
“Most people when they die are probably too good for 
Hell, yet surely too bad for Heaven. It must be frankly 
confessed that the Protestantism of the Reformers is un- 
clear on this point, its justified denial [?] not yet having 
advanced to the stage of affirmation.” © The Catholic 
dogma in this as in so many other cases agrees per- 
fectly with the postulates of reason. 


24 Sermones, 172: ‘‘Orationibus et trecentos annos usu receptum fuit, 


sanctae Ecclesiae et sacrificio salu- 
tart et elemosynis, quae pro eorum 
spiritibus erogantur, non est dubi- 
tandum mortuos adiuvari, ut cum 
eis misericordius agatur a Domino, 
quam eorum peccata meruerunt ; hoc 
enim a Patribus traditum universa 
observat Ecclesia.” (Cfr. the same 
writer’s Enchirid., 60).— The argu- 
ment from Tradition is developed 
more fully by Pesch, Praelect. Dog- 
mat., Vol. IX, 2nd ed., pp. 283 saqq. 

25 Inst., III, 5, § 10: “ Ante mille 


ut precationes fierent pro defunctis.” 
26 Handbuch der protestantischen 
Polemik gegen die rémisch-kath. 
Kirche, p. 445, Leipzig 1862: “ Die 
meisten Sterbenden sind wohl zu gut 
fiir die Holle, aber sicher zu schlecht 
fiir den Himmel. Man muss offen 
zugestehen, dass hier im reformators- 
schen Protestantismus eine Unklar- 
heit vorliegt, indem seine berechtigte 
Verneinung noch nicht zur Be- 
jahung fortgeschritten war.” 


to ee 


Oe a ee ee 


a 


a Sa 


a 


SRC TION: 2 
NATURE AND DURATION OF PURGATORY 


The Church has defined nothing with regard to 
the nature of Purgatory except that the poor souls 
detained there are in a passing state of punish- 
ment and suffer “purgatorial pains.” * Like the 
pains of Hell, those of Purgatory are twofold, 
vig.: pain of loss (poena damnit) and pain of 
sense (poena sensus ). 

1, THE Pain oF Loss.—The poena dammi for 
the poor souls in Purgatory consists in their be- 
ing deprived of the beatific vision of God. This 
temporary deprivation constitutes the essence of 
the state of purgation. It is the severest pun- 
ishment that can be inflicted upon a disembodied 
soul. The consciousness of being separated from 
the Creator, who is so near and yet so far, causes 
terrible suffering, which is enhanced still more by 
the knowledge that the venial sins and punish- 
ments due to sin could have been expiated 
by contrition, confession, prayer, almsgiving, and 
other good works so easily performed in the way- 
faring state. 


1“ Poenis purgatoriis;’’? v. supra, p. 78. 


83 


— 84 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


Nevertheless, their sad condition does not drive the 
suffering souls to despair or to commit new sins, as Luther 
falsely claimed.? 

For the rest, it would be no easier to write a psychology 
of the poor souls in Purgatory than of the damned in 
Hell. We earthly pilgrims are incapable of forming 
an adequate conception of the spiritual suffering involved 
in even a temporary privation of the beatific vision. 
Shorn of all earthly impediments, and placed beyond the 
world of sense which veils the things of the spirit, 
the poor souls in Purgatory concentrate their attention 
on God. But God hides and withdraws from them, 
which causes them to be tormented incessantly by a 
veritable agony of love. There is nothing improb- 
able in St. Bonaventure’s conjecture that “the sever- 
est pain of Purgatory exceeds the most violent known 
on earth,” * but we need not necessarily adopt the opinion 
of St. Thomas that “ even the slightest torture of Purga- 
tory is worse than all the sufferings one can endure in this 
world.’ * There is no certainty to be had in these mat- 


ters.° 


2, THE PAIN oF SENSE.—Whether besides the 
poena damni the poor souls suffer a poena sen- 
sus, is doubtful. Still more difficult is it to an- 
swer the question whether this additional punish- 
ment, if it exist, is caused by a material me- 

-dium similar to the fire of Hell. Theologians 


2 Prop. Damn. a Leone X, prop. 3 Comment. in Sent., IV, dist. 20, 
38: ‘Animae in purgatorio non art. I, qu. 2. 
sunt securae de earum salute, saltem 4 Comment. in Sent., IV, dist. 21, 
non omnes.”— Prop. 39: “ Animae qu. I, art. I. 
in purgatorio peccant sine intermis- 5 Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio, 


sione, quamdiu quaerunt requiem et UT, t4. 
horrent poenas.” 


ln ee 


eee 


PURGATORY 8s 


consider it extremely probable that such is the 
case. 

a) The phrase employed by the Florentine 
Council, “animas poenis purgatoriis purgari,”’ 
seems to point to the existence of some positive 
torment over and above the poena damm. This 
assumption gains strength from the concurrent 
teaching of the Fathers and Schoolmen. 


The difficulty begins when we attempt to ascertain the 
precise nature of the sensitive pain experienced by the 
poor souls. The Church has issued no definition with 
regard to the existence of a purgatorial fire, and hence 
nothing can be asserted on this head as of faith or even 
as fidet proximum. When Cardinal Bessarion at the 
Council of Florence argued against the existence of a 
real fire in Purgatory, the Greeks were assured that the 
Roman Church had never pronounced dogmatically on 
the subject, and nothing was said about it in the Decree 
of Union. The Greek view that Purgatory is a place of 
darkness, smoke, and mourning (locus caliginis, tenebra- 
rum, turbinis, moeroris) is too vague to enable us to form 
any positive idea as to its nature.® 


b) In the Western Church belief in the exist- 
ence of a material purgatorial fire, analogous to 
the fire of Hell, is common. Hence the name 
“agnis purgatorius’ (German, Fegefeuer). This 
view derives a certain probability from 1 Cor. ITI, 
II sqq. 


6 On the teaching of the Russian der Auffassung der russischen Or- 
schismatics see A. Bukowski, S.J.,  thodoxie, pp. 143 sqq., Paderborn 
Die Genugtuung fiir die Siinde nach 1911. 


86 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


a) In warning the faithful of Corinth against cer- 
tain dangerous doctrines that were propagated among 
them, the Apostle says: ‘“ Foundation can no man lay 
other than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus 
Christ. But if a man buildeth upon the foundation, 
[whether it be] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass 
[or] straw,— the work of each man shall become mani- 
fest. For the Day shall declare it, because [that day] 
is to be disclosed in fire, and the worth of each man’s 
work shall that fire assay. If any man’s work abide, 
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive reward: 
if any man’s work be burnt up, he shall lose his reward, 
but himself shall be saved, yet as [one that hath passed] 
through fire.” 7 No doubt the test by fire is quite as much 
a figure of speech as building upon a foundation of gold, 
silver, precious stones, wood, grass or straw. But the 
concluding sentence, which asserts that a man shall be 
saved as through fire, seems to indicate that there is a real 
fire in Purgatory.® 

B) The Pauline passage is interpreted literally by some 
of the Fathers. Thus St. Ambrose writes: “ When Paul 
says, ‘ yet as through fire,’ he means that he will indeed be 
saved, but will have to suffer the pain of fire, in order 
that, purged by fire, he be saved.”°® St. Augustine, on 

71 Cor. III, 12 sqq.: EHé 6é tes armine, De Purgatorio, I, 5; Al. 
éroixodomel él Tov Oeuedvov TovToy Schafer, Erklirung der beiden Briefe 
xpuadv, dpyupor, dlOovs Tulovs, an die Korinther, pp. 70 saa; J. 
tUNa, xOprov, Kahduny, Exdorou 7d) MacRory, The Epistles of St. Paul 
%pyov gavepdy yervnoerar’ ) yap to the Corinthians, Part I, pp. 38 
hua Sndwoer, bre év wupt dmwoxar saq.; Hugh Pope, O.P., in the 


NUmrTeTa Kat éxdorov 7d Epyov Irish Theol. Quarterly, Vol. IV 
éroiéy éorw, Td Top Soxydoe. (1909), No. 16, pp. 441-456. 


Ei tivos 7d epyov pevet 6 émotKo- 9In Ps., 118: “Quum Paulus di- 
Sduncev, wicOdy AnupeTar’ el TLvOS cit: ‘sic tamen, quasi per ignem, 
7 &pyov katakanoerat, (nuwinoe ostendit quidem illum saluwm fu- 
rat, avros Se cwhhoerat, oirws 5é turum, sed poenam ignis passurum, 
ws dia mupds. ut per ignem purgatus fiat salvus.”” 


8 On 1 Cor. {II, 11 sqq., see Bell- 


SA leg PEO AE 


Pes 
SS 


a nen ee en ies 


PURGATORY 87 


J 


the other hand, interprets the phrase “ quasi per ignem’ 
figuratively, applying it to “the fiery furnace of earthly 
tribulation.” Origen says: “‘ Whoever is saved, is saved 
through fire, in order that, if he contains an admixture of 
dross, it be dissolved by fire, so that all may become solid 
gold.” 1° This passage and another similar one in Ori- 
gen’s writings’ show that he regarded the purgatorial 
fire as a figure of speech. In this he followed his master, 
Clement of Alexandria, who called Purgatory “a spiritual 
fire.” +2 On the whole it may be said that the number of 
Greek Fathers who believe in the existence of a real 
fire in Purgatory is quite small. Among the Fathers 
of the Latin Church some favor the literal interpretation. 
Thus St. Gregory the Great speaks of those who after this 
life “ will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames,” and 
adds that the pain will be more intense than any that 
can be suffered in this life.1# In another place he says: 
“But it must be believed that there is a purgatorial 
fire for [the expiation of] venial sins before the [Gen- 
eral] Judgment.’’** But even in the West there is not a 
sufficient consensus patrum for a solid argument from 
Tradition. 

y) This fact did not, however, prevent the Scholastics 
from confidently asserting the existence of a material fire 
in Purgatory. The value of their teaching is discounted 
by the fact that they were uncritical, ascribed too much 
importance to unauthenticated visions and private rev- 
elations, and tried to prove the reality of the purga- 
torial fire from the existence of volcanoes, and so forth. 
We need not wonder, in view of such insufficient argu- 


10 Hom. in Exod., 6. 14 Dial., IV, 39: “ Sed -tamen 

11 De Principtis, II, 10. de quibusdam levibus culpis ante 

127d gpdvimov mip. (Stromata, iudicium [universale] esse purga- 
VII, 6). torius ignis credendus est.” 


13 Ps. III Poenit., n. 1. 


88 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


ments, that a number of modern theologians (e. g. Klee, 
Mohler, Dieringer) deny, or at least doubt, the exist- 
ence of a material fire in Purgatory. However, it is well 
to remember, in the words of Cardinal Bellarmine, that 
“Tf there is no real fire, there will be something much 
more terrible, which God has prepared in order to demon- 
strate His power.” *® 


3. How THE Poor SOULS ARE CLEANSED IN 
Purcatory.—Clement of Alexandria taught *® 
that the poor souls can effect their own spiritual 
amendment by submitting patiently to the tor- 
ments of Purgatory.*’ Whatever we may hold 
on this subject, one thing is certain, namely, that 
no merits can be acquired in Purgatory.”® 

A more important and more practical problem 
is, how the poor souls expiate their venial sins and 
the punishments due to their forgiven mortal sins, 
and how they get rid of their evil habits. 

a) Forgiveness of venial sins can be obtained 
in three different ways: (1) by unconditional re- 
mission on the part of God; (2) by suffering and 
the performance of penitential works, and (3) by 
an act of contrition. 

(1) Absolutely speaking, God can forgive all sins un- 


conditionally. But in the present economy He has chosen 
to make contrition a condition of forgiveness, and hence it 


15 De Purg., II, 14: “‘ Si ibt est ostendere voluit.” 
verus ignis, erit omnino acerrimus 16 See Stromata, VII, 12. 
_ si non ignis verus, erit aliquid 17 Sevrépa madela. 
multo horribilius, quale Deus parare 18 Cfr. Oswald, Eschatologie, p. 


potuit, qui potentiam suam in hoc 119, 


—~ 


PURGATORY 89 


is not reasonable to suppose that venial sins are forgiven 
unconditionally in Purgatory. 

(2) What does God demand of the poor souls as 
a condition of forgiveness? Can it be mere passive suf- 
fering (satispassio)? This might wipe out the reatus 
poenae, but it could never expunge the reatus culpae, 
of which a sinner can rid himself only by an act of 
contrition (motus displicentiae). Hence the only means 
by which venial sins can be forgiven in Purgatory is 
contrition. St. Thomas says: “ Venial sins are remit- 
ted after this life, even with regard to guilt, in the 
same way in which they are remitted in this life, namely, 
by an act of charity towards God, expressing re- 
pugnance for the venial sins committed in this life. 
However, since it is no longer possible to acquire merits 
in the world beyond, such an act of love, while it removes 
the impediment of venial guilt, does not deserve absolu- 
tion or a decrease of punishment.” 2° 

When does the soul make the act of contrition which 
wipes out venial sin? Most probably immediately after 
its separation from the body, when the soul is for the first 
time alone with God.?° Some theologians, however, think 
that the process of purgation is gradual.” 


b) It is not difficult to understand how the tem- 
poral punishments due to sin are expiated in Pur- 
gatory. The soul is no longer able to make satis- 


dilectionis motus in eis tollit quidem 
impedimentum venialis culpae, non 


19 De Malo, qu. 7, ‘art. 3123 


“Venialia remittuntur eis post hanc 
vitam etiam quantum ad culpam eo 
modo, quo remittuntur in hac vita, 
scil, per actum caritatis in Deum re- 
pugnantem venialibus in hac vita 
commissis, Quia tamen post hanc 
vitam non est status merendi, ille 


tamen meretur absolutionem vel di- 
minutionem poenae.”’ 

20 Cfr. Suarez, Comment. in S. 
Theol., III, disp. 11, sect. 4. 

21 Cfr. Fr. Schmid, Die Seelen- 
lduterung im Jenseits, Brixen 1907. 


go THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


faction, and hence can atone only by suffering. 
This suffering, technically called satispassio,” 
has neither meritorious nor satisfactory value be- 
cause the poor souls are no longer able to do any- 
thing for themselves, but have entered into the 
night “in which no man can labor.” 


The duration of Purgatory is entirely a matter of con- 
jecture. Some theologians think that the poor souls are 
detained for a long time; others, that the period of 
purgation is brief. The truth probably lies between 
these two extremes. God, being infinitely just, owes it 
to Himself to punish every sin according to its guilt and 
to exclude from Heaven whatever is unclean. But He 
is also infinitely merciful, and His mercy has provided 
an effective means of shortening the sufferings of the 
poor souls through the intercession of the Church and 
the faithful on earth. 


Dominicus Soto and Maldonatus maintained that no. 


one remains in Purgatory longer than ten years. This 
view is untenable, and one of the practical conclusions 
drawn from it, namely, that legacies for the saying of 
masses for the dead become invalid after ten years, has 
been formally condemned by Alexander VII.** How- 
ever, from her acceptance of unlimited mass stipends it 
does not follow that the Church believes the sufferings of 
the poor souls in Purgatory to be of extremely long dura- 
tion. God, in consideration of a great number of masses 
and suffrages which He has foreseen from all eternity, 
may release a soul immediately after death. On the other 


22 On the nature of satispassio see 1666, prop. 43: “ Annuum legatum 
St. Bonaventure, Comment. in Sent., pro anima relictum non durat plus 
IV, dist. 20, p. 1, art. 1, qu. 3. quam per decem annos.”’ (Den- 


23 Prop. Damn. die 18. Marti, zinger-Bannwart, n. 1143). 


PURGATORY oI 


hand, no one can be sure that Purgatory does not last for 
centuries in the case of souls who enter eternity with an 
exceptionally heavy load of venial sins and temporal 
punishments. 

The faithful who will be alive at the second coming of 
our Lord will not, of course, be able to expiate their 
venial sins and temporal punishments in Purgatory, for 
there will be no Purgatory after the Last Judgment. 
With regard to these survivors it is piously believed that 
God will grant them a general indulgence, or that the 
tribulations and sufferings they will have to undergo in 
the flesh will make up for their deficiencies. 


c) A word concerning the evil habits which re- 
main in the soul after conversion. 


There are two classes of evil habits (habitus), viz.: 
‘those which are rooted in the sensitive faculties (drunk- 
enness, impurity, etc.), and those which are based on 
the spiritual powers of the will (pride, excessive ambi- 
tion, etc.). The former are eradicated as it were auto- 
matically at the moment of death, when the sensitive fac- 
ulties become inoperative. The latter accompany the soul 
into Purgatory, but are probably destroyed by an act 
of love elicited at the threshold of eternity. Should 
these habits continue to exist in Purgatory, there can be 
no doubt that they are eventually cast off at the gate of 
Heaven. They cannot be expiated by suffering because 
they have already been the subject of contrition, and, 
like concupiscence, are neither sins nor deserving of 
punishment. 


SECTION 3 


SUCCORING THE DEAD 


1. THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.—The Coun- — 


cil of Trent says that the poor souls in Purgatory 
“are aided by the suffrages of the faithful, and 
principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the 
altar.’! The efficacy of this intercession is based 
on the Communion of Saints.’ 

a) By the Communion of Saints we understand 
the spiritual union of the faithful with one an- 
other, with the blessed Angels, the Elect in 
Heaven, and the poor souls in Purgatory, under 
the supernatural headship of Christ, who is the 
font and well-spring of all grace; ° or, to put it 
somewhat differently, the mystic union of the mili- 
tant, the triumphant, and the suffering Church of 
Christ. | 

b) The ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed 
teaches that there is a visible communion on earth, 
as well as an invisible interchange of blessings 
between the militant and the triumphant Church, 


1 Sess. XV: “... . catholica Ee- 2“ Credo sanctorum communio- 
clesia . . . docuerit, purgatorium nem.’ (Apostles’ Creed). 
esse, animasque ibi detentas fidelium 3 On the gratia capitis see Pohle- 
suffragiis, potissimum vero accepta- Preuss, Christology, pp. 239 sd4q- 


bili altaris sacrificio iuvari. . 


g2 


me — 


PURGATORY | 93 


of which latter Purgatory is a preparatory © 
stage. This has always been Catholic teaching.’ 
Whereas an impassible gulf separates the 
Blessed in Heaven from the demons,’ the mem- 
bers of Christ’s mystic body in Heaven and 
on earth are closely bound together by a super- 
natural communion of blessings,° of which the 
innermost essence and principle is sanctifying 
grace, or theological love, and, to some extent, 
theological faith. For this reason even those 
Catholics who are guilty of mortal sin belong to 
the militant Church and consequently, in a 
restricted sense, also to the Communion of Saints. 
As for the angels, they form part of the ecclesia 
triumphans, and as such participate in the com- 
mumo sanctorum. 

Through the Communion of Saints the faithful 
on earth, especially those who are in the state of 
sanctifying grace, share in all the Masses, pray- 
ers, and good works offered up by the militant 
Church. They are moreover benefitted by the in- 
tercession of the angels and the just in Heaven, 
and they can aid the poor souls in Purga- 
tory by prayers, indulgences, alms, and other 
good works, especially by having the Sacrifice of 
the Mass offered for them. The first and second 
of the above-mentioned propositions having been 


4Cfr. A. Harnack, Apostol. Glau- 5 Cir, Lake, XVI,:26. 
bensbekenntnis, 9th ed., Pp. 32 sqd., 6.Cirs rior. Nad, 24 sqdq. 
Berlin 1892. 


94 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


dealt with in previous volumes of this series," it 
remains to prove the third, wz.: that the liv- 
ing faithful can succor the dead by works of satis- 
faction.® 

2. THE Docma.—That the souls of the faith- 
ful departed are aided by the suffrages of the 
living follows as a corollary from the dogma of 
Purgatory.” 

Theologians are wont to quote in confirmation 
of this teaching certain scriptural texts, which 
are not, however, entirely convincing. Such a 
text is, e. g., Tob. IV, 18: “Lay out thy bread 
and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and 
do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked.” * 
Some exegetes interpret this passage as inculcat- 
ing the usefulness to the dead of a meal given to 
the poor in their memory.** But this is by no 
means certain. Another, equally inconclusive 
text often quoted in this connection is 1 Cor. XV, 
29, where the Apostle speaks of persons “who are 
baptized for the dead.””’ As Dr. MacRory points 
out, “this metaphorical sense of Baptism (as a 
baptism of mortification and affliction for the 


7 Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, pp. 142 the History of Dogma, London 


saq.; The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp. 
376 sqq. 

8 On the dogma of the Communion 
of Saints see J. P. Kirsch, Die Lehre 
von der Gemeinschaft der Heiligen 
im christlichen Altertum, Mayence 
1900 (tr. by J. R. McKee, The Doc- 
trine of the Communion of Saints 
in the Ancient Church; A Study in 


1911); Chs. F. McGinnis, The Com- 
munion of Saints, St. Louis 1913. 

9V. supra, Sect. 1. 

10 Tob. IV, 18: ‘“ Panem tuum 
et vinum tuum super sepulturam tusti 
constitue et noli ex eo manducare et 
bibere cum peccatoribus.” 

11 Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio, 
A EY 


PURGATORY 98 


dead) is very rare, being found only in the two 
passages just referred to, and there in the mouth 
of Christ in reference, not to ordinary mortifica- 
tions, but to His baptism in His blood. ‘This be- 
ing so, is it likely that the Corinthians could be 
expected to think of a metaphorical baptism here? 
Besides, if this were the sense, the Apostle, as 
Estius points out, should have written, ‘who bap- 
tize themselves,’ 7. e. undergo voluntary mortifi- 
cations, rather than ‘who are baptized.” *” 

3. SUFFRAGES FOR THE DeAp.—In regard to 
suffrages for the dead (suffragia pro mortuis) we 
may ask four questions: (a) How many kinds 
of suffrages are there? (b) Who profits by 
them? (c) In what manner do they advantage 
the dead? and (d) By whom can they be offered? 

a) There are three different kinds of suffrages 
by which the living can assist the dead, viz.: 
the Mass, prayers, and good works. This dis- 
tinction is very old.** 


While good works are mostly typified by alms, there are 
others, such as fasting, scourging, making pilgrimages, 
etc. The shedding of tears alone is not effective. St. 
Chrysostom says, “ the dead are not aided by tears, but by 
prayer, intercession, and alms.” ** 

If a man has forgotten or neglected to make restitution 
for some injury done to his neighbor, and others make it 

12 The Epistles of St. Paul to the 13 Vo supra, Sect. 1. ._ 
Corinthians, Part I, pp. 239 sq., 14 Hom. in Ep. I. ad Cor., 41. 


Dublin 1915. Cfr. Bellarmine, De 
Purg., I, 6. 


96 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


for him after his death, does he derive any spiritual 
benefit from the act? D. Soto t® and Bellarmine'® answer 
this question in the negative, and they are probably right. 
For the dead man, in omitting to make restitution, either 
committed a sin or he did not. If he committed a sin, he 
must expiate that sin, regardless of what his heirs or friends 
may do. If he did not sin, he incurred no punishment. 

Offering up indulgences for the dead is not a distinct 
class of good works, because the efficacy of indulgences is 
conditioned upon prayer and good works. Neither are 
the ceremonies of Christian burial to be regarded as a 
special kind of suffrage, for to bury the dead is an act of 
corporal mercy and therefore belongs to the category 
of good works.1* The same applies to the preparation of 


corpses for burial, the burning of candles at the bier, 


sprinkling dead bodies with holy water, accompanying 
them to their last resting-place, decorating the graves, 
etc., etc. All these are good works which help the dead 
if performed with the right intention.*® 

Cremation is not a good work but “a detestable abuse ” 
in which the Church forbids Catholics to cooperate.’ 
The practice of burning dead bodies, though in itself not 


opposed to Catholic dogma, was prohibited because it was: 


originally introduced and is now advocated chiefly by 
avowed enemies of religion.?° 


15 Comment. in Sent., 1V, dist. May 19, 1886.— Regarding certain 


45,30. 23 'ante 3. 

16 De Purgatorio, II, 16. 

it Cir: 2s Kings .ls ce sN\hatth, 
Oo Gea Eas eek 

18 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa 
Theol., Supplement., qu. 71, art. 11; 
Bellarmine, De Purgatorio, II, 19; 
L. Ruland, Geschichte der kirchlichen 
Leichenfeier, Ratisbon toor, 

19 See the Decree of the S. Con- 
gregation of the Holy Office, of 


conditions under which such persons 
may be left in good faith, see the 
decree of July 27, 1892, issued in 
reply to certain questions asked by 
the Archbishop of Freiburg (Cath- 
olic Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, p. 482). 

20.0n cremation in general cfr. 
Wm. Devlin, s. v., in the Cath. 
Encyclopedia, Vol. 1V; Acta S. 
Sedis, XXV, 63; Am. Eccles. Re- 
view, XII, 499; Fortnightly Review, 


PURGATORY 97 


b) Suffrages offered for the dead cannot bene- 
fit the just in Heaven or the damned in Hell, but 
they can and do benefit the poor souls in Purga- 
tory. The just do not need human assistance. 
This is especially true of baptized infants and the 
blessed martyrs. St. Augustine says it is an in- 
sult to pray fora martyr. The ancient practice, 
evidenced by the teaching of the Fathers and the 
early liturgies, of praying and offering sacrifice 
for deceased Apostles, martyrs, prophets, and 
saints, was inspired by a desire to thank God for 
having glorified them in Heaven. We pray for 
them, says St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “in order that 
through their prayers and supplications God 
may receive our own.” And St. Augustine: 
“When sacrifices .. . are offered on behalf of 
the very good, they are thank-offerings, . . . and 
in the case of the very bad, even though they do 
not help the dead, [these sacrifices] afford conso- 
lation to the living.” *° 


c) To understand how the suffrages of the liv- 
ing can benefit the poor souls we must recall the 
distinction between the meritorious and the sat- 


St. Louis, Mo., Vol. XXIII, No. 17; 22 Gat: Mystar.n Vel Oo io ce tt 
A. Besi, Die Beerdigung und Ver- Deus orationibus tllorum et depreca- 
brennung der Leichen, Ratisbon . tionibus suscipiat preces nostras.” 
1889; G. Hassl, Gottesacker oder (Migne, P..G., XXXIII, 1115). 


Leichenofen, 1808. 23 Enchiridion, 110: “ Sacrificia 
21 Serm., 17: “ Iniuriam facit ... pro valde bonis gratiarum ac- 
martyri, qui orat pro martyre.” tiones sunt; pro valde malis, si nulla 


(Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, p. adiumenta mortuorum, viventinm 
145). ‘ consolationes sunt.” 


‘98 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


isfactory value of good works.** The meritori- 
ous value of a good work consists in an increase 
of sanctifying grace and is not transferable. 
Its satisfactory value consists in an expiation of 
punishment due, and may be surrendered in favor 
of another. It is the satisfactory value alone 
that God accepts on behalf of the dead. 


From this point of view we can appreciate the “ heroic 
act of charity’ approved by Pius IX, which consists in 
the voluntary relinquishment for the benefit of the poor 
souls of all claim to the satisfactory fruits of one’s good 
works as well as to the suffrages of one’s friends after 
death. However, it is doubtful whether God accepts 
such a sacrifice and actually deprives those who make it 
of the satisfactory values which they surrender. That 
He approves of the heroism that dictates such a noble act 
goes without saying, for it is in full accord with St. 
Paul’s exclamation, ‘I wished myself to be an anathema 
from Christ, for my brethren.” ”° 

Over and above their meritorious and satisfactory value, 
prayers for the dead have an impetratory value, inas- 
much as they move God to hear the petitioner’s prayer, 
gua prayer, regardless of the value of the satisfaction 
offered. 

With regard to indulgences it is commonly held that 
they may be applied to the poor souls “by way of 
suffrage” (per modum suffragii).?° 


d) We can offer suffrages for the dead either 


24 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 26 The student will find this sub- 
Supplement., lls. 93, cathe A: ject treated more fully in Pohle- 
25 Rom. IX, 3: ‘“‘ Optabam enim . Preuss, The Sacraments, Vol. III, 
ego tpse anathema esse a Christo pro pp. 260 sqq. 
fratribus mets,” 


PURGATORY 99 


by performing, or causing others to perform, a 
good work that produces its effects ex opere 
operato (e. g. the Mass) ; or by creating satisfac- 
tory or impetratory values for the benefit of the 
poor souls by giving alms, reciting the office of the 
dead, etc. Inthe former case it is sufficient that 
the good work be performed to secure its ef- 
fects; 27 whereas in the latter case all those condi- 
tions must be fulfilled which are required to ren- 
der a good work meritorious, principally this, 
that the applicant be in the state of sanctifying 
grace.2> An act by which no merits or satisfac- 
tions are gained for the doer himself, cannot ap- 
ply such merits or satisfactions to others.” 


Can the just, who have arrived at the status termi, 
intercede for the poor souls in Purgatory? 

The just who have arrived at the status termini are di- 
vided into two classes: (1) the Angels and Saints in 
Heaven, and (2) the poor souls in Purgatory. 

The liturgical prayers of the Church show that the 
Angels and Saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary 
and St. Michael, are powerful intercessors for the dead.*° 
Whether the poor souls can assist one another is a 
more difficult question to answer. We know that, 
being in a state of punishment, they need assistance 
themselves. To assume that they can obtain release 


27 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, The Sacra- 30“. . . ut intercedentibus omni- 
ments, Vol. I, pp. 122 sqq. bus Sanctis tuis pietatis tuae clemen- 
28 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Grace: Ac- t@ omnium delictorum suorum ve- 


tual and Habitual, pp. 82 sqq., 413. niam consequantur.”” (Roman Mis- 
29 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., _ sal). 
Supplement., qu. 71, art. 3. 


100 THE LAST THINGS OF MAN 


from Purgatory by their own prayers, would seem to 
contradict the revealed teaching that they are unable 
to acquire merits or even quasi-merits.*! However, ex- 
pressly excluding this untenable corollary, we may hold 
that the poor souls are able to pray for one another ef- 
fectively. Suarez ** and Bellarmine ** furthermore main- 
tain that the poor souls can aid the faithful on earth by 
their intercession. This is, however, opposed to the teach- 
ing of St. Thomas, who in reply to the objection that the 
poor souls can help us because they are friends of God 
says: “Those who are in Purgatory do not yet 
enjoy the vision of the Divine Logos, which would en- 
able them to know what we think and speak, and there- 
fore we do not implore their suffrages, but those of the 
living.” °* The further objection that the poor souls must 
have power with God because they are impeccable, he re- 
futes thus: ‘“‘ Though they are superior to us in as far as 
they can no longer sin, they are inferior to us as regards 
the punishments which they suffer, and therefore they 
are in no condition to pray [for others], but rather in 
a state where they need the prayers of others.” *° 
Nevertheless those who piously invoke the poor souls, 
or promise them Masses, need not be disturbed, because 
it is probable that they can aid us by their interces- 
sion, and quite possible that God may aid both the 
poor souls and those who pray for them without the 


31 On the meritum de congruo 
see Pohle-Preuss, Grace: Actual 
and Habitual, pp. 430 sqq. 

32 De Oratione, I, 11. 

33 De Purgatorio, II, 16. 

34 Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 83, 
art. 4, ad 3: “TJlli, qui sunt in 
purgatorio, nondum fruuntur visione 
Verbi, ut possint cognoscere ea, 
quae nos cogitamus vel dicimus, et 


ideo eorum suffragia non imploramus 
orando, sed a vivis petimus collo- 
quendo.”’ 

85-Op> Cite, Atte-lIgcdG. Sen na, 
qui sunt in purgatorio, etsi sunt 
superiores nobis propter impeccabili- 
tatem, sunt tamen inferiores quantum 
ad poenas, quas patiuntur, et se- 
cundum hoc non sunt in statu oran- 
di, sed magis ut oretur pro eis.” 


PURGATORY 10! 


knowledge of the former. Let us not forget our Sa- 
viour’s dictum: “ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy.” °° The Church in her liturgy prays for 
the poor souls, but never invokes their intercession. 


Reapincs: — S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines of Dogmatic Theology, 
Vol. III, pp. 442 sqq.— Wilhelm-Scannell, A Manual of Catholic 
Theology, Vol. II, pp. 553 sqq.— Wiseman, Lectures on the Prin- 
cipal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church, Sect. XI, 
London 1836 (frequently reprinted).— Coleridge, The Prisoners 
of the King, London 1897.— Canty, Purgatory, Dogmatic and 
Scholastic, Dublin, 1886—-Loch, Das Dogma der griechischen 
Kirche vom Purgatorium, Ratisbon 1842.—Redner, Das Fege- 
feuer, Ratisbon 1856.— Bautz, Das Fegefeuer, Mayence 1883.— 
Tappehorn, Das Fegefeuer, Dillingen 1891— St. Binet, S.J., Der 
Freund der armen Seelen oder die kath. Lehre vom jensettigen 
Reinigungsorte, Freiburg 1896.— Fr. Schmid, Das Fegefeuer nach 
kath. Lehre, Brixen 1904.— IpeM, Die Seelenliuterung im Jenseits, 
Brixen 1907 Bellarmine, De Purgatorio— Casaccia, I] Purga- 
torio, Biella 1863.— B. Jungmann, De Novissimis, Ratisbon 1871. 
— Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology, London 1878.— Sadlier, Pur- 
gatory: Doctrinal, Historical, Practical, New York 1886.— L. 
Rouzic, Le Purgatoire, Paris 1918.— Atzberger, Geschichte der 
christlichen Eschatologie, Freiburg 1896—E. J. Hanna, art. 
“Purgatory,” in Vol. XII of the Catholic Encyclopedia, pp. 
375-380.— H. Thurston, S.J., The Memory of the Dead, London 
1916 (contains a brief but fairly comprehensive sketch of the 
Catholic practice of prayer for the dead from the first centuries 
of Christianity to the close of the Middle Ages).— Delloue-Leahy, 
Solution of the Great Problem, New York 1917, pp. 214 sqq.— 
B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Vol. I, 
St. Louis 1917, pp. 452 sqq. 

On the reasonableness of the doctrine of Purgatory see J. S. 
Vaughan, Thoughts for All Times, 23rd Am. ed., Springfield, 
Mass., I916, pp. 156-171. 


36 Matth. V, 7: ‘“* Beati misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam con- 
sequentur.”’ 


PART: II 


ESCHATOLOGY OF THE HU- 
MAN RACE 


Parallel with the consummation of the individ- 
ual runs the consummation of the human race, 
which will take place as soon as the predestined 
number is reached. 

W hen “‘the last day” * will come no one can tell. 
All calculations and speculations from St. Augus- 
tine to the present have merely confirmed our 
Blessed Saviour’s dictum that God alone knows 
the day and the hour when the Son of man will 
come to judge the living and the dead.? 

Following St. Augustine’s example* we shall 
consider, (1) the Signs that are to Precede the 
General Judgment, (2) the Resurrection of the 
Flesh, and (3) the Last Judgment. 


1 John VI, 39 sq. tebit similiter eorum, qui adhuc com- 
2Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., putare non cessant.” 
Supplementum, qu. 77, art. 2: 3 De Civitate Dei, XX, 30. 


“. . . quorum falsitas patet et pa- 


102 


GHAPTERYL 


THE SIGNS THAT ARE TO PRECEDE THE GENERAL 
JUDGMENT 


Revelation tells us * that the General Judgment 
will be preceded by certain definite signs. Hence 
we may conclude that the world will not come to 
an end before these signs appear. On the other 
hand, no one can foretell the exact day of the 
Last Judgment from these signs. It is only when 
they all concur that a reasonable conjecture will 
become possible, and even then there will still be 
danger of self-deception. Cfr. 2 Thess. II, 1 sq.: 
“We beseech you, brethren, touching the com- 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gath- 
ered together unto Him, that you be not readily 
shaken out of your right mind nor kept in alarm, 
—whether by spirit-utterance or by discourse or 
by a letter purporting to be from us,—as though 
the day of the Lord were upon us.” * As the 
precise time of the Last Judgment is known only 


1 Matth. XXIV, 37 sqq.; 2 Pet. cito moveanuni vestro sensu, neque 
III, 3 sqq. terreamini, neque per spiritum, neque 
22 Thess. II, 1 sq.: ‘‘ Rogamus per sermonem, neque per epistolam 
autem vos fratres per adventum tamquam per nos missam, quasi m- 
Domini nostri Iesu Christi, et no-  stet dies Domini.” 
stvae congregationis in ipsum: ut non 
103 


104 THE END OF THE WORLD 


to God, it were idle for us to speculate about it. 

The principal signs or events usually enumer- 
ated by theologians as preceding the Last Judg- 
ment are: 

(1) The General Preaching of the Christian 
Religion all over the earth; 

(2) The Conversion of the Jews; 

(3) The Return of Henoch and Elias; 

(4) A Great Apostasy and the Reign of Anti- 
christ; 

(5) Extraordinary Disturbances of Nature; 

(6) A Universal Conflagration. 

I. GENERAL PREACHING OF THE CHRISTIAN 
ReLicion.—The first of the predicted signs was 
announced by our Divine Saviour Himself, 
Matth. XXIV,14: “And this gospel of the king- 
dom shall be preached in the whole world, for a 
testimony to all nations, and then shall the con- 
summation come.” ® 


It must not be concluded from this prophecy that 
all men will ultimately embrace the Christian religion. 
Our Lord says that the Gospel will be preached to 
all nations; not that all men will be converted. The 
words “and then” (xai rére) are probably not meant 
to indicate an immediate sequence of events, but merely 


3 Matth, XXIV, 14: “Et prae- 48: “In quibus gentibus nondum 
dicabitur hoc evangelium regni in est Ecclesia, oportet ut sit, non ut 


universo orbe, in testimonium omnt- omnes, qui ibi fuerint, credant. 
bus gentibus: et tunc (Kat rére) Omnes enim gentes promissae sunt, 
ventet consummatio.” - non omnes homines omnium gen- 


4Cfr. St. Augustine, Ep., 199, n. tium.” 


os ee 


7 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 105 


to mark the beginning (terminus a quo) of the period 
which will end with the General Judgment. ‘‘ What does 
the phrase ‘ then it will come’ mean,” says St. Augustine, 
“except that it will not come before that time? How long 
after that time it will come, we do not know. The only 
thing we know for certain is that it will not come sooner.” § 


2. THE CONVERSION OF THE JEws.—St. Paul 
says: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, 
of this mysery, .. . that blindness in part has 
happened in Israel, until the fulness of the gen- 
tiles should come in. And so all Israel should be 
saved, as it is written:® ‘There shall come out 
of Sion he that shall deliver, and shall turn away 
ungodliness from Jacob.’ . . . For as you also in 
times past did not believe God, but now have ob- 
tained mercy through their unbelief, so these also 
now have not believed, for your mercy, that they 
also may obtain mercy.” ? 


From this text it may with reasonable certainty be con- 
cluded: 

(a) That the majority of nations, or at least the major- 
ity of the people of all nations (plenitudo gentium), will 
embrace Christianity before the end of the world; 

5 Ep., 197, n. 4: “* Tune veniet’ 
quid est, nisi ante non veniet? 


Quanto post veniat, incertum nobis 
est. Ante tamen non esse venturum, 


TrAnpwua Tav €Ovav eicédOn, Kal 
otrws mwas "lopandX awOjcerat, 
Kabws yéypamrar’ “Her éx Ziwy 
3 puduevos kal droorpéyer doeBelas 


dubitare utique non debemus.” 

61s, LIX, 20. 

7 Rom. XI, 25 sqq.: Ov yap 0éd\w 
twas dyvoeiv, ddedgol, rd wvaoTNplov 
TOUTO, . . . STL TwPWwoLs amd WEépoUS 
T® "lopanr yéyovey dxpis od 7d 


amd “laxwB...- “Qorep yap kal 
buets more HrevOnaare TO Oew, viv 
dé ArAenOnre TH TovTwy arebela, 
otrws Kal odro. viv éreiOnoay Te 
buerépw éehéer iva Kat avroi édenda- 
ou. 


106 THE END OF THE WORLD 


‘ 


(b) That, after the general conversion of the 
tiles,” the Jews, too, will accept the Gospel. 

Though these propositions by no means embody arti- 
cles of faith, it requires more than such antisemitic scold- 
ing as was indulged in by Luther to disprove them. The 
Apostle expressly speaks of a “ mystery,” and ascribes the 
final conversion of the Jews, not to the physical or mental 
characteristics of the Semitic race, but to a special dis- 
pensation of God’s “mercy.” Luther overlooked both 
these factors when he wrote: ‘ A Jéw, or a Jewish heart, 
is as hard as wood, stone, or iron, as hard in fact as 
the devil himself, and hence cannot be moved by any 
means. ... They are young imps condemned to Hell. 
. . . Those who conclude from the eleventh chapter of 
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans that the Jews will all be 
converted towards the end of the world, are foolish and 
their opinion is groundless.” ® 

On the other hand, however, there is no reason to as- 
sume that the Jews will all be converted, or that the He- 
brew race will embrace the true faith in a body. Like 
the “ gentiles,” the Jews will probably flock to the Church 
in great numbers. “‘ When the multitude of nations will 
come in,” says St. Jerome, “then this fig-tree, too, will 
bear fruit, and all Israel will be saved.” ® 

The parable of the sheepfold (John X, 16) is some- 
times applied to the end of the world, though, we believe, 
ineptly. In saying, “I have other sheep that are not 
of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall hear 


‘ gen- 


8 Sdmtl. Werke, Jena ed., Vol. 
VIII, p. 109: “Ein Jude oder ji- 


schipfen, als sollten alle Juden be- 
kehrt werden am Ende der Welt, ist 


disch Herz ist so stock-stein-eisen- 
teufelhart, dass mit keiner Weise zu 
bewegen ist....Es sind junge 
Teufel, zur Holle verdammt.... 
Dass etliche aus der Epistel gum 
Romer im 11. Kapitel solchen Wahw 


nichts.”’ 

9In Habac., III, 17: “ Quum in- 
traverit plenitudo gentium, tunc 
etiam haec ficus afferet fructus suos 
et omnis Israel salvabitur.” 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT — 107 


my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” 
our Lord simply meant that His Church was to embrace 
all nations. 


3. RETURN OF HENOCH AND EttAs.—The be- 
lief that Elias and Henoch will return to herald 
the second coming of our Lord and to convert the 
Jews, was held by many Fathers. 


a) So far as it regards Elias, this belief is based on 
the prophecy of Malachias: ‘“ Behold I will send you 
Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and 
dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart 
of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the chil- 
dren to their fathers: lest I come and strike the earth 
with anathema.” 7° “ Elias the prophet ” cannot be iden- 
tical with John the Baptist, as some have thought, because 
the Septuagint expressly calls him “the Thesbite.” 1? 
Moreover, our Lord Himself clearly distinguishes be- 
tween the two, and ascribes to Elias precisely the role 
that was attributed to him by His contemporaries. 
Matth. XVII, 11 sq.: “But he answering, said to 
them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things; 
but I say to you that Elias is already come.'.... 
Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to 
them of John the Baptist.’?* St. Augustine explains 
this text as follows: “As there are two advents of the 

10 Mal. IV, 5 sq.: “ Ecce ego 116 OcecBirns. 
mittam vobis Eliam prophetam, ante- 12 Matth. XVII, II sqq.: 


quam veniat dies Domini magnus et ‘Hyelas -péev Epxerar Kal dro- 
horribilis. Et convertet cor patrum kxatraoTrnoe. twavta’ Néyw dé byiv 


ad filios et cor filiorum ad patres 8rt ‘Hydelas Hin HdrOev... . Tore 
eorum, ne forte veniam et percutiam ouvnkavy of pabnral Sri epi 
terram anathemate.” (Cfr. Eccles. ‘"Iwdvvov rov Bamricrov elmev 


XLVIII, ro). avrois. 


108 THE END OF THE WORLD 


Judge, so there are two precursors. . . . He sent before 
Him the first precursor and called him Elias, because 
Elias was to take the same part in the second coming that 
John had in the first.” ** | 

From what we have said it further appears that the 
phrase “ dies Domini” does not mean the first coming of 
Christ as the Messias, but His second coming as the Uni- 
versal Judge. The day of His Incarnation was a day of 
mercy and blessing; the day of the Last Judgment will be 
a2. dayeot terror... 


b) Concerning Henoch the argument is less 
convincing. 


Some theologians substitute Moses or Jeremias for 
Henoch, but this procedure is rejected by the majority.** 
The Bible says that “Henoch pleased God, and was 
translated into paradise, that he may give [preach] 
repentance to the nations.”1*© The Septuagint is less 
definite. It says: kat pereréOn (cis mapddecov is missing) 
mapdderypa petavolas tais yeveais,— which might mean that 
Henoch was set up as an example of repentance for his 
contemporaries. St. Paul says: “ By faith Henoch was 
translated, that he should not see death.’ +® In view of 
this passage and of the “two witnesses” who accord- 
ing to the Apocalypse (XI, 3 sqq.) will appear as pre- 
cursors of our Lord when He returns for the Last Judg- 
ment, there has existed in the Church since the earliest 
times a popular belief that Elias and Henoch will come 


18 Tract. in Ioa., VII, 5: ‘“‘ Quo- 14 Cfr. Suarez, De Myst. Vitae 
modo duo adventus iudicis, ita duo Christi, disp. 55, sect. 3. 
praecones. ... Misit ante se pri- 15 Eccles. XLIV, 16. 
mum praeconem, vocavit illum Eli- 16 Heb. XI, 5: ‘“‘ Fide Henoch 


am, quia hoc erit in secundo ad- translatus est, ne videret mor- 
ventu Elias, quod in primo Ioannes.”” tem...” 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT | tog 


back to preach penance before the end of the world. 
However, this is not a dogmatically certain truth, as 
claimed by Bellarmine.’ 


4. THE GREAT APOSTASY AND ANTICHRIST.— 
The “great apostasy,” 7. e. a tremendous defection 
among the faithful, is described partly as the 
cause and partly as an effect of the appearance of 
Antichrist. Both events may be reckoned among 
the signs that are to precede the Last Judgment, 
because it is certain that either before or after 
the conversion of nations and of the Jewish 
race there will be a great revolt, led by Antichrist, 
which will reduce the number of the faithful. 

a) That a great apostasy will occur before the 
end of the world we know from St. Paul’s Second 
Epistle to the Thessalonians. 


The congregation at Thessalonica had taken alarm at 
a spurious letter purporting to come from the Apostle, 
“as though the day of the Lord were near.” To 
prove the genuineness of the present epistle, and as a 
precaution against forgery, St. Paul inserts the following 
words in his own handwriting: “I, Paul, [send you] this 
greeting with my own hand. That is the sign in every let- 
ter; thus I write.” 1% His references to the end of the 
world appear rather obscure to us because he adverts to 
certain things which he had told the Thessalonians by 
word of mouth and of which we have no knowledge: “‘ Do 
- you not remember that while I was still with you I used 


17 De Romano Ponttfice, III, 6. mea manu Pauli, quod est signum in 
182 Thess. III, 17: ‘“ Salutatio, omni epistola. Ita scribo,” 


TIO THE END OF THE WORLD 


to tell you these things?” ?® On one point, however, he 
is quite clear, viz.: that the “ day of the Lord” (4 jjpépa tov 
xvpiov) will not come “ unless the apostasy first befall, and 
the man of lawlessness be revealed, the son of perdi- 
tion.” 2° “ Apostasy” (4 daooracia, discessio) in this 
connection can scarcely mean a_ political revolution, 
for the whole movement is described as “a mystery 
of iniquity,” 24 a satanic “‘ seduction to evil for them that 
are perishing, because they have not entertained the love 
of the truth 2? unto their salvation. And therefore God 
sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe 
that lie,2? in order that all may be judged that have be- 
lieved the truth,24 but have acquiesced in unrighteous- 
Mess 

It is true that some older exegetes understood this 
text as foreshadowing, at least secondarily, a great po- 
litical upheaval, in particular the fall of the Roman Em- 
pire.* But neither this catastrophe, nor the Protestant 
Reformation (1517), nor the dissolution of the Holy Ro- 
man Empire (1806), have proved to be the discessio pre- 
dicted by the Apostle. 


b) In the passage quoted above St. Paul men- 
tions another sign among those preceding the day 
of the Lord, viz.: the revelation of the “man of 


19 2 Thess. II, 5: ‘ Non retinetis 
quod quum adhuc essem apud vos, 
haec dicebam vobis? ” 


247m ddnOeia. 
25 ry dduxla. (2 Thess. II, 9-11). 
'26St. Thomas interprets the text 


20,2 Thess; II, 3: “Ne quas.vos 
seducat ullo modo: quoniam nisi 
venerit discessio primum, et revelatus 
fuerit homo peccati, filius perdt- 
tionis.”’ 

21 Mysterium iniquitatis, wvorn- 
ploy THs davoulas. 

22 7Hnv ayarnv THs adnOelas. 

237m Wevdet. 


as follows: ‘“‘ Discessio primo est a 
fide, quia futurum erat ut fides a 
toto mundo reciperetur. . . . Disces- 
sio a Romano imperio debet intellegi, 
non solum a temporali, sed a spiri- 
tuali, scil. a fide catholica Romanae 
Ecclesiae.” (Expositio in Omnes S. 
Pauli Epistolas, cap. II, lect. 1). 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 111 


sin,” the “son of perdition,” who is usually called 
Antichrist. 


a) The name Antichrist is not found in the Epistles of 
St- Paul hut ina John’ 11,18, 22571 V4) 35°20 Johney It, 
St. John speaks of “antichrists” in the plural num- 
ber, but there can be no doubt that he believed in a 
personal Antichrist. Cfr. 1 John II, 18: “Little 
children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that 
the Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many 
antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour.” *7 
This personal Antichrist is to be preceded by messengers 
who will prepare the way for him and inaugurate his 
reign. Cfr. 1 John IV, 3: “And every spirit that dis- 
solveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is antichrist, of 
whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now 
already in the world.’ The Greek text is more definite: 
Kal TovTd é€oTt 7 Tod avtixpiarov [the work of Antichrist], 
6 [not ds] danxdate dri epxerat, Kal viv év TO KOopy eoTiv 
#8. Evidently the Antichrist predicted by St. John is 
not merely a pretender, but the incarnate antithesis 
of our Divine Saviour, and therefore His deadly enemy. 
Whether “ Antichrist” is merely a collective name for 
certain persons and tendencies, or whether it designates 
one particular person, a human individual of flesh and 
blood, cannot be concluded with certainty from the Johan- 
nine text. St. Paul, however, is positive on this point. 
He speaks of Antichrist as “the man of lawlessness,” ** 
“the son of perdition,” 2° who “shall oppose and exalt 
himself against all that is called God” and “ seat himself 


271 Toa. II, 18: ‘‘ Filioli, novis-  antichristi multi facti sunt, unde sct- 
sima hora (éox arn dpa) est, et sicut mus quia novissima hora est.” 
audistis quia antichristus venit (6re 286 dvOpwros THs auaptlas. 


6 dvrixpicros Epxerar). Et nunc 296 vids THs amwdelas. 


112 THE END OF THE WORLD 


in God’s sanctuary, giving himself out as God.” °° “ And 
then shall the lawless one ** be revealed, whom the Lord 
Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth and bring 
to nought by the manifestation of his coming. But that 
other’s coming is through Satan’s working [attended] 
by every [kind of] feat and sign and lying wonder, and 
by every seduction to evil for them that are perishing.” *? 
This graphic description cannot be applied to a mere per- 
sonification, but points to a concrete individual, and hence 
we may safely reject the figurative interpretation 
of “ Antichrist,” though it is not necessarily contrary to 
Catholic teaching. 

B) It is difficult to say what St. John meant when he 
wrote in the same Epistle: ‘‘ And now you know what 
keepeth him back (76 xaréyoy), to the end that he may be 
revealed in his own season. For the mystery of law- 
lessness is already at work; only let him who now re- 
straineth (6 xaréywy) be taken out of the way, and then 
shall the lawless one be revealed.” ** This obscure text 
has been variously interpreted. Most exegetes see in it a 
reference to some contemporaneous event. SS. Chrysos- 
tom and Jerome regarded the Roman Empire as the re- 
straining influence (16 xatéyov, 6 xaréywy). Others held 
that “the lawless one” is kept in check by the fact that 
the Gospel has not yet been preached to all nations and 
the Jewish people remain unconverted. Dr. Dollinger 
identified “the man of lawlessness ” with the Emperor 
Nero, the xaréywv with Claudius, the “ mystery of lawless- 
ness” with Nero’s intrigues to usurp the throne, and the 


302 Thess. II, 3 sqq. oldate, els 7d drokartudOqvat 
816 dvomos. avrov éy Te éavrov kaipy. To 
822 Thess. II, 8-10. Yap HvaTnpLov non evepyetrat THS 


33 1 John IV, 6-7,— Cfr, 2 Thess. dvoutas pdvov 6 karéxwr pre ews 
II, 6 sa: Kal viv 7d KkaTréxovp €k wécou yévnrat 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 113 


“ sitting in the temple” ** with the profanation and de- 
struction of the Jewish temple under Titus and Ves- 
pasian.*® Such historical parallels may be ingenious and 
ertertaining, but in appraising them at their true value 
we must not overlook the fact that St. John speaks of 
the second coming of Christ, and that “he who re- 
strains’ this coming is most likely the devil, who is re- 
serving his forces for the end of the world, when he will 
make his last and most formidable assault upon the hu- 
man race through Antichrist. 


Some conceive Antichrist to be an incarnate devil or 
a man possessed by Satan.°° The role assigned to him, 
however, would seem to require an independent person. 
Such appellations as “ the man of lawlessness” and “ the 
son of perdition ” sufficiently indicate that he will be a 
man, not an incarnate devil or an energumen. 


The belief that Antichrist will be the son of a Jewish 
mother overshadowed by Satan *? is pure conjecture. 
That he will be born in Syria or Babylonia, rule the world 
for three years from Jerusalem or Rome, and be deposed 
at the second coming of our Lord, are more or less prob- 
able surmises that have nothing to do with the dogmatic 
teaching of the Church.** 


BANC fra Da Nal Nor 27.5 

35 Dollinger, Christentum 
Kirche, pp. 277 sqq. 

36 Cfr. St. Jerome, In Dan., VII, 
8: “Unus de hominibus, in quo 
satanas inhabitaturus sit corporali- 
ter.” 

-87 Cfr. Lactantius, Instit., VI, 17: 
“ Oritur ex Syria, malo spiritu ge- 
nitus, eversor et perditor generis 
humani.” j 


und 


38 Cfr. Roncaglia, Lezioni Sacre 
intorno alla Venuta, Costumi e 
Monarchia dell’ Anticristo, Rome 
2718> A. J. Maas, S.J.5 att. * Anti- 
christ,” in Vol. I of the Catholic 
Encyclopedia; J. H. Newman, “ The 
Patristic Idea of Antichrist’? (Dis- 
cussions and Arguments on Various 
Subjects, pp. 44-108, new impres- 
sion, London 1907). 


114 THE. END OF THE WORLD 


5. EXTRAORDINARY DISTURBANCES OF Na- 
TURE.—The second coming of Christ will be sud- 
den and terrifying. Matth. XXIV,27: “Asthe 
lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth 
even into the west, so shall also the coming of the 
Son of iman'be.” * Luke XV LI, 24:39 As the 
lightning that lighteneth from under heaven, shin- 
eth unto the parts that are under heaven, so shall 
the Son of man be in his day.’ *° Scripture 
clearly indicates that this event will be preceded 
by tremendous disturbances. 


a) It is not easy to separate the eschatological part of 
our Lord’s teaching from his references to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. However, there can hardly be a 
doubt that the following passage refers entirely to the 
end of the world: “ And immediately after the tribula- 
tion of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: and 
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: 
and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall 
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
much power and majesty.” 41 The tribulations here de- 
scribed are partly material (extraordinary perturbations 
of nature) and partly spiritual (mental anguish suftered 


39 Matthh XXIV, 27: “ Sicut 
enim fulgur exit ab oriente, et paret 
usque in occidentem: ita erit et ad- 
ventus Filii hominis.” 

40 Luc. XVII, 24: “Nam _ sicut 
fulgur coruscans de sub caelo in 
ea, quae sub caelo sunt, fulget: ita 
erit Filius hominis in die sua.’’ 

41 Matth. XXIV, 29 sq.: “ Statim 


autem post tribulationem dierum t]- 
lorum sol obscurabitur, et luna non 
dabit lumen suum, et stellae cadent 
de caelo, et virtutes caelorum commo- 
vebuntur: et tunc parebit signum 
Filii hominis in caelo: et tunc plan- 
gent omnes tribus terrae: et videbunt 
Filium hominis venientem in nubibus 
caeli cum virtute multa et maiestate,”’ 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT | 115 


by men). It will not do to interpret the passage figura- 
tively. The Fathers and theologians accept our Lord’s 
prophecy in its literal sense. Quite naturally, He em- 
ployed the language of the people to whom He spoke, not 
the terminology of science. We know that the (fixed) 
stars cannot “ fall from heaven.’ Hence the expression 
“ powers of heaven” must apply to the atmospheric belt 
that surrounds the earth. We are forced to conclude that 
the words of the Bible refer to the earth alone and 
not to the planets and other astral bodies by which it is 
surrounded. True St. Paul says: “Every creature 
groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now, and not only 
it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the 
Spirit.” 4? But nature, 7. e. the material universe, expects 
redemption and consummation only in so far as it groans 
under the curse which deprived it of the blessings 
of Paradise. In matter of fact God cursed the earth, not 
its planets, nor the sun, nor the stars. Cfr. Gen. III, 
17 sq.: “Cursed is the earth in thy work; ... thorns 
and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” * 

This simple and rational explanation is confirmed by 
what may be regarded as the most important of all 
Scriptural texts dealing with the consummation of the 
world, viz., 2 Pet. III, 10: ‘“‘ But the day of the Lord 
shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass 
away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted 
with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it 
shall be burnt up.” #* As the context shows, “ heavens” 

42 Rom. VIII, 22 sq.: “ Scimus  tribulos germinabit tibi,” 
enim quod omnis creatura (don 442 Pet. III, 10: “ Adveniet 
kriows) ingemiscit, et parturit usque autem dies Domini ut fur: in quo 
adhuc. Non solum autem illa, sed  caeli magno iwmpetu transient, ele- 
et nos ipsi primitias spiritus ha- menta vero calore solventur, terra 
bentes.” autem et quae in tpsa sunt opera, 


48 Gen. III, 17 sq.: “ Maledicta exurentur.” 
terra im opere tuo:... spinas et 


116 THE END OF THE WORLD 


here means the atmosphere surrounding the earth, for 
the conflagration described by St. Peter is related to the 
deluge, “ whereby the world that then was, being over- 
flowed with water, perished ;” whereas “ the heavens and 
the earth, which now, by the same word are kept in store, 
[are] reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and 
perdition of ungodly men.” * A comparison of the two 
sentences shows that the “heaven” which will be de- 
stroyed by fire is the same that helped to bring on the del- 
uge. Hence it must be the atmosphere of our earth, of 
which alone, furthermore, it can be said that it “ shall pass 
away with great violence.” *° 

b) How are we to conceive “the new heavens” 
which Scripture predicts in connection with the “new 
earth ” that is to be after the Last Judgment? *’ We shall 
hardly go astray if we picture this transformation as a 
restoration of the telluric atmosphere. The earth and 
its surrounding atmosphere will not be totally destroyed, 
but transformed into a paradise. It is hazardous to 
deduce more than this from the cryptic intimations found 
in various parts of the Bible. The analogy of faith 
as well as the geocentric conception of the universe known 
to have been held by the sacred writers favor the assump- 
tion that there is to be a re-created “heaven” (1. e. 
atmosphere) as well as a restored earth. In what manner 
the planets and stars are to be led to perfection,— we can 
hardly assume that they will continue their revolutions 
forever,— Revelation does not tell. The views held by 
the Fathers and medieval Scholastics were based on an 

452 Pet. III, 6-7: ‘‘ Per quae 462 Pet. III, 10: “ caeli magno 
ille tunc mundus aqua inundatus pe- impetu transient.’—On the inter- 
rit, caeli autem, qui nunc sunt, et pretation of 2 Pet. 6-10 see St. 
terra eodem verbo repositi sunt, ignti | Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XX, 24, 


reservati in diem iudicu et perdi- — 47 Cfr. Is. LXV, 17; LXVI, 223 
tionis impiorum hominum,”’ Apo. XI, 1 80.32 Pet. .LE Ris: 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 117 


erroneous notion of the universe and cannot be regarded 
as an authentic exposition of the Catholic faith, 


6. THE UNIVERSAL CONFLAGRATION.—The 
“end of the world” will be brought about by a 
great conflagration, which will destroy our planet 
and its atmosphere. 


a) It is uncertain whether this catastrophe will take 
place before or after the General Judgment. The 
former view is based on the assumption that the advent 
of the Great Judge in the clouds of heaven 48 must coincide 
with the universal conflagration, and that this conflagra- 
tion will not only cause the death of those who are still 
alive, but likewise supply for them the place of Purgatory. 
But this theory is open to many objections. In the first 
place it is improbable that the Last Judgment will be 
delayed until after the destruction and subsequent restora- 
tion of the earth, for how, in this hypothesis, would it 
be possible for the living to “ hasten unto the coming of 
the Lord’? Moreover, it seems proper that the great 
conflagration should follow the Last Judgment and thus 
actually mark the end of the world. 

b) By what means God will bring about this terrible 
conflagration we know not. It is neither probable nor 
necessary to assume that the phenomenon will be strictly 
miraculous. Even infidel scientists admit that there are a 
number of purely natural causes which may at any mo- 
ment bring about the end of the world. If, for instance, 
the earth were to collide with a comet accompanied by 
a swarm of meteorites, or with some solar system other 
than our own, or if one of the so-called fixed stars were to 


48 Matth. XXIV, 29; 2 Pet. III, 10. 


118 THE END OF THE WORLD 


enter our planetary circle, the result would be destruction. 
Curiously enough the signs predicted by our Lord and 
by St. Peter as preceding or accompanying the end 
of the world coincide with the perturbations which pres- 
ent-day scientists say would probably ensue if the earth 
were hit by a comet. A well-known astronomer, Father 
Charles Braun, S.J., has called attention to the existence of 
comets which are ten thousand times larger than the 
earth. If such a ponderous body were to strike the earth 
at a speed of, say, six geographical miles per second, he 
says, “the result would be the same as if a compact mass 
of equal weight, shooting through space with the velocity 
of a cannon ball, would collide with the earth. No human 
being could live through such a catastrophe. . . . Millions 
of luminous meteorites and meteors, which, as is well 
known, always accompany comets, would penetrate the at- 
mosphere, and, by condensing, produce such enormous 
masses of cosmic dust that the sun would lose its splendor 
and glow with a reddish hue. Presently the head of 
the comet would arrive and either strike the earth and, 
by destroying its crust, cause the kernel of liquid fire to 
burst forth, or, leaving behind a large part of its coma, 
enter our atmosphere in the form of a frightful hur- 
_ricane and start a general conflagration, which even 

the minerals could hardly resist, and which, within 
a few hours, would convert all organic structure into 
ashes.” *° 

c) Will this universal conflagration annihilate the earth 
with all its inhabitants or will some organic beings sur- 
vive? This question is inspired by curiosity rather than 

49 Chs. Braun, S.J., Ueber Kosmo- und ihr kosmischer Ursprung,’” in 
gonie vom Standpunkt christlicher the Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, 1886, 
Wissenschaft, 3rd ed., pp. 383, 385, . I, 290 sqq.; J. Pohle, Die Sternen- 


Minster 1905.— On _ other pos- welten und ihre Bewohner, 6th ed., 
sibilities see Epping, “‘ Die Meteorite pp. 243 sqq., Cologne 1gr1o. 


SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 119 


dogmatic considerations. The Scholastics generally held 
that no corruptible substances (corpora mixta = animals © 
and plants) shall find a place on the “ new earth.” °° In 
point of fact we have no positive knowledge concerning 
this matter. The Schoolmen claimed no greater weight 
for their theories than that due to the arguments 
which they adduced. Their arguments in the present 
case are anything but conclusive. Why should not God 
in His omnipotence endow mixed bodies with the same in- 
destructibility or incorruptibility which is possessed by 
simple bodies (corpora simplicia), or recreate the animals 
and plants for the benefit of the race of transfigured men 
that is to inhabit the new earth? St. Anselm seems to 
have had some such idea in mind when he wrote: “ The 
earth which once harbored in its bosom the body of our 
Lord, like a great garden which, having been wa- 
tered by the blood of saints, will wear an imperishable 
garland of sweet-smelling flowers.’ °! This view has 
found favor with some modern theologians (Bautz and 
Einig), but though it is quite fascinating, we do not adopt 
it because it cannot be proved. 

“Science,” says Father Joseph Rickaby, “has some- 
times dreamt of a final condition of things in which the 
machinery of the universe shall be completely run down, 
the energies of nature so dislocated as no longer to fur- 
nish any potentiality of organic life, a uniform tempera- 
ture established everywhere, suns cooled, planetary revo- 
lutions stopped,—the realization in fact of the opod 
réyra xpypata, or universal deadlock, which was the Greek 

50 Among modern writers this guine est irrigata, odoriferis floribus, 
view is held by Oswald (Escha-  rosis, violis immarcescibiliter erit 
tologie, 5th ed., Paderborn 1893). perpetuo, decorata.” (Cfr. Suarez, 

51“ Terra, quae in gremio suo Comment. in S. Theol., III, qu. 59, 


Domini corpus fovit, tota erit ut art. 6, sect 3). 
paradisus, et quia Sanctorum san- 


120 THE END OF.THE WORLD 


notion of a mindless chaos. Things may come to this 
final impasse, or they may not, science cannot tell. But 
there remains God’s promise to re-establish (dvaxefadai- 
ooacOa, gather up under a new head) all things in 
Christ.°* ‘Hence it is said,’ quotes St. Thomas: they 
are the last words of his book: °* ‘I saw a new heaven 
and a new earth: ** I will create new heavens and a new 
earth; and the things that were before shall not be in 
memory, neither shall they rise into thought; but ye 
shall be glad and rejoice forever.” *° ‘So be it,’ says 
Aquinas.” °° 


Reapincs: — J. B. Kraus, Die Apokatastasis der unfreien Natur 
auf kath. Standpunkt, Ratisbon 1850.— Houchedé, Die Lehre vom 
Antichrist dargestellt nach der hl. Schrift und Tradition, Ratis- 
bon 1878— A. Delattre, Le Second Avénement de Jésus-Christ, 
Louvain 1891.— J. Rohm, Die protestantische Lehre vom Anti- 
christ, Hildesheim 1891.— Dornstetter, Das endzeitliche Got- 
tesreich nach der Prophetie, Wirzburg 1896— Thomas, Das 
Weltende nach der Lehre des Glaubens und der Wissenschaft, 
Minster 1900.— Joh. Rademacher, Der Weltuntergang, Munich 
1909.— Jungmann, Tract. de Novissimis, Ratisbon 1885.— Billot, 
Quaestiones de Novissimis, Rome 1903.— J. H. Newman, “ The 
Patristical Idea of Antichrist,’ in Discussions and Arguments on 
Various Subjects, new impression, London 1907, pp. 44-108.— 
A. J. Maas, S.J., art. “ Antichrist,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 
Vol. I, pp. 559-562— J. L. Ratton, Antichrist: An Historical 
Review, London 1917.— Jowett, ““Excursus on the Man of Sin,” 
in Epistles of St. Paul, London 1859.— P. Batiffol, art. “ Apo- 
catastasis,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 509 sq. 

52 Eph. LTpuaigoy 55 1s. LXV,°17 sq. 


538 The Summa contra Gentiles. 56 J. Rickaby, S.J., God and His 
54 Apoc. XXI, 1. Creatures, p. 419. 


| 
| 


1 


CHAPTER VE 

THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 
SECTION 1 

REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION 


1, DeriniT1ion.—The Resurrection of the flesh 
is one of the most important dogmas of the 
Christian religion. 


St. Paul says: “If there is no resurrection of the 
dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen, 
vain truly is our preaching, vain too your faith.”*+ The 
Bible employs “ resurrection of the dead”? and “ resur- 
rection of the flesh”’* synonymously. The latter phrase 
is the more significant because it emphasizes the body. 
The soul, of course, does not “ return” to life; it is im- 
mortal. 


The Resurrection of the flesh may be defined 
as “a substantial conversion whereby a human 
being, which has been resolved into its component 
elements by death, is restored to its former con- 
dition.” 


11 Cor. XV, 13 sq.: “Si autem ~ 2 Resurrectio mortuorum or de 
resurrectio mortuorum non est: mortuis, dvdoTacis TwY vEeKp@y OF 
neque Christus resurrexit; si au- ék veKxpar. 
tem Christus non vresurrexit, inanis 3 Resurrectio carnis, avdoracis 


est ergo praedicatio nostra, inmanis oapkés. 
est et fides vestra,”’ ; 
‘I2T 


122 THE END OF THE WORLD 


The Resurrection is called a conversion (mutatio) to 
distinguish it from creation (creatio ex nthilo), by which 
an entirely new being comes into existence. 2 

The change involved in the Resurrection is substantial 
because it affects the substance of human nature, and not 
merely its accidents. The subject is a corruptible being, 
composed of elements which are separated by death and 
thus admit of substantial destruction. Man as such is 
destroyed, and of the two essential elements that compose 
him, viz.: body and soul, the former gradually returns 
to dust. Its resurrection is not a re-creation, but a mi- 
raculous reproduction (reproductio) with full identity of 
subject. 


2. HERETICAL Errors vs. THE DOGMATIC 
TEACHING OF THE CHuRCH.—The Resurrection 
of the dead appeared foolish to the gentiles.* It 
was denied by the Sadducees,® the Gnostics, the 
Manichzans, and the medieval Albigenses and 
Waldenses; and is still violently attacked by athe- 
ists, materialists, and rationalists. Against all 
these the Catholic Church firmly upholds the 
Resurrection of the body. The dogma is ex- 
pressly mentioned in the so-called Apostles’ Creed, 
in the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds, in the 
symbol of the Eleventh Council of Toledo, and 
in other ancient professions of faith. Origen’s 
teaching of an Apocatastasis of the dead* was 
condemned by the Council of Constantinople 


4Cfr. Acts XVII, 18. Sadducaet, qui dicunt non esse resur- 
S.Cir.7 Matth, -oOX 11, 232 eter rectionem.” 
6V. supra, pp. 67 sqq. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 123 


(553).’ The Fourth Council of the Lateran spe- 
cifically defined that “all men will arise [from the 
dead] with their own proper bodies.” ® 

3. PRooF FROM SACRED ScripTturE.—The 
Resurrection of the body is mentioned in both 
the proto- and the deutero-canonical books of the 
Old Testament. The former advert to it veiledly, 
whereas the latter inculcate it with perfect clear- 
ness, 


a) The proto-canonical books contain two classes of 
texts referring to the Resurrection. Some predict the 
restoration of Israel under the figure of a general rising 
of the dead; others point to the Resurrection of Christ 
as a symbol of our own. 

a) The prophet Osee puts these words into the mouths 
of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia: “‘ He will revive us 
after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and 
we shall live in his sight.”® Yahweh Himself promises 
his chosen people through the same prophet: “I will 
deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem 
them from death. O death, I will be thy death; O hell, 
I will be thy bite.’ 2° 

Another argument may be deduced from the famous 
vision of Ezechiel. The prophet saw how the dry bones 
that lay scattered over the plain of the dead, at God’s com- 
mand began to stir, took on sinews and flesh, and were 


7“ Si quis dixerit, quod in fabu- duos dies: in die tertia suscitabit 
losa restitutione futurae sunt solae nos, et vivemus in conspectu eius.” 


mentes nudae, anathema sit.” 10Os. XIII, 14: “De manu 
(Denzinger, oth ed., n. 200). mortis liberabo eos, de morte re- 
“8 Omnes cum suis propriis re- dimam eos: ero mors -tua o mors, 
surgent corporibus.”’ (Denzinger- morsus tuus ero inferne.”? (Cfr. 1 
Bannwart, rth ed., n. 420). Cor. XV, 54 sq.) 


9 Os. VI, 3: “ Vivificabit nos post 


“124 THE END OF THE WORLD 


covered with skin. When they stood upright, and lived 
and breathed, the Lord said to the prophet: “ Son of man, 
all these bones are the house of Israel. ... Behold I 
will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sep- 
ulchres, O my people, and will bring you into the land of 
Israel.”+1. Though this vision symbolizes the restora- 
tion of Israel, it would have been unintelligible to the 
Jews had they not been familiar with belief in a resurrec- 
tion." 


8) The texts of the second group refer to the 
Resurrection of the Messias, which we Christians 
rightly regard as a figure and pledge of our own. 
Cfr. Ps. XV, 10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul 
in the nether world,"* nor wilt thou give [permit] 
thy holy one to see corruption.” ** 

b) A veritable locus classicus for the dogma of 
the Resurrection is Job XIX, 23 sqq.: “Who 
will grant me that my words may be written? who 
will grant me that they may be marked down in 
a book with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or 
else be graven with an instrument in flint stone? 
For I know my Redeemer liveth, and in the last 
day I shall rise out of the earth, and I shall be 
clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall 
see my God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes 
shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid 


TVEZU ROK V IL, rsa. ti! Pus 12 Cfr. Tertullian, De Resurrec- 
hominis, ossa haec universa domus  tione Carnis, 30: ‘“‘ Non posset de 


Israel est. ... Ecce ego aperiam tu-  ossibus figura componi, si non id 
mulos vestros et educam vos de ipsum et ossibus eventurum esset,”’ 
sepulchris vestris, populus meus: 13 els Gdnv; Hebrew, sheol. 


et inducam vos in terram Israel.’ 14 Cfr,, Acts II, 31 sq.; XIII, 35. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 125 


up in my bosom.” * So clearly does this passage 
express the dogma of the Resurrection that St. 
Jerome says: “Job prophesied the resurrection 
of the body in such plain terms that no man 
has written of it more clearly or more certainly, 
+++ ho one [has treated this dogma] as openly 
after Christ as Job did before Him.” 


The Hebrew text, it is true, differs slightly from the 
Vulgate rendering, which is followed by our English 
Bible. It runs something like this: “I know that my 
Redeemer liveth, and-he will in the end stand above the 
dust. Then shall I be clothed with this skin, and in my 
flesh I shall see God. Yea, I will see him for myself, 
my eyes will see him, and not another: my reins con- 
sume themselves in my bosom.” But, though the word- 
ing is different, the hope of a glorious Resurrection is 
common to both versions. Where the Vulgate says, “ Et 
in novissimo die de terra resurrecturus sum,’ the He- 
brew text has: “He [7. e. the Redeemer] will stand 
above the dust.” Both passages affirm the fact of the 
Resurrection, with this difference, that one mentions its 
efficient, while the other speaks of its formal cause. To 
interpret the whole passage as merely voicing Job’s 
confidence of regaining his health, will not do. For in 
that assumption, as even Rabbi Rosenmiiller admits, there 

15 Job XIX, 23 sqq.: “ Quis mihi 


det, ut exarentur in libro stylo ferreo 
et plumbi lamina vel celte sculpan- 


conspecturi sunt, et non alius: re- 
posita est haec spes mea in sinu 
meo.” 


tur in silice? Scio enim quod Re- 
demptor meus vivit, et in novissimo 
die de terra surrecturus sum: et rur- 
sum circumdabor pelle mea, et in 
carne mea videbo Deum meum, quem 
visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei 


~ 


16 Ep., 53, 8: “ lob resurrectionem 
corporum sic prophetat, ut nullus de 
ea vel manifestius vel cautius scrip- 
serit,... nullus tam aperte post 
Christum, quam iste ante Christum.” 


126 THE END OF THE WORLD 


would be no proportion between the majestic announce- 
ment with which the text opens, and the unimportant 
fact which it records.1* The logical sequence of ideas 
demands that Job meet the charges of his friends by ex- 
pressing his belief that the due proportion between guilt 
and punishment will be restored in the world beyond, espe- 
cially since he himself had just closed his earthly account 
in the sure expectation of death.1* “ We must assume,” 
says Rosenmiiller, “that his thoughts were directed to the 
final resurrection of the body and the restoration of all 
things.” 7° 


c) The deutero-canonical books of the Old Tes- 
tament teach the doctrine of the Resurrection ex- 
plicitly. 


Ecclesiasticus is not entirely conclusive because the 
Greek text is badly corrupted and differs in many places 
from the Latin Vulgate. Nevertheless, the praise of 
Elias, who is expected to return at the end of the world, 
may be quoted. The Greek text says: ‘“ Blessed are 
they that saw thee [7. e. Elias at the end of the world] 
and were honored in love; for we too shall live.’ 2° 

That the post-exilic Jews firmly believed in the Resur- 
rection of the flesh is proved by the glorious martyrdom 
of the seven brethren and their mother, recounted in 2 
Mach. VII, 9 sqq. “ Thou indeed, O most wicked man,” 
says the second of the brothers to the cruel tyrant Anti- 
ochus, “ destroyest us out of this present life, but the King 


20 Ecclus. XLVIEIT, Ir, ed. 
Tischendorf, 1882: Makdpio ol 


17 Rosenmiller, Scholia in Li- 


brum Iob, i. h. b. 


18 Iob XVII. 
19 Scholia in Librum Iob, h. 1.: 
“ Oportet eum de ventura iudicio, 


corporum resurrectione ultima et re- 


rum omnium instauratione cogitasse.” 


lddvres ce Kai ot éy dyarnoce 
Kexoounmevot’ Kal yap huels CwH 
Snodueba. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 127 


of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the 
resurrection of eternal life.” 2 And the fourth declares: 
“It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope 
from God, to be raised up again by him: for, as to thee 
thou shalt have no resurrection unto life.” 22. The mother 
exhorts them all to be steadfast. “The Creator of the 
world,” she says, “. . . will restore to you again in his 
mercy both breath and life.” 2* -When Razias, one of 
the ancients of Jerusalem, was put to death for his loyalty 
to the Jewish religion, we are told that, “as he had yet 
breath in him, being inflamed in mind, he arose, and while 
his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was 
grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd, and stand- 
ing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without 
blood, grasping his bowels with both hands, he cast them 
upon the throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit 
to restore these to him again: and so he departed this 
Hise. hae 


d) In the New Testament we have the distinct 
assurance of Christ and His Apostles that the 
dead will rise again. 

¢) Our Lord says: “Fear ye not them that 


24:2) Mach. i KIVA aga ete nn ag 
quum adhuc spiraret, accensus ani- 
mo, surrexit: et quum sanguis eius 


212 Mach. VII, 9: ‘‘ Tu quidem 
Scelestissime in praesenti vita nos 
berdis: sed Rex mundi defunctos nos 


pro suis legibus in aeternae vitae 
resurrectione suscitabit.” 

22 2 Mach. VII, 13: ‘‘ Potius est 
ab hominibus morti datos spem ex- 
pectare a Deo, iterum ab ipso re- 
suscitandos: tibi enim resurrectio ad 
vitam non exit.’ 

232 Mach. VII, 23: ‘ mundi 
Creator et spiritum ... vobis ite- 
rum cum misericordia reddet et 
vitam,” 


magno fluxu deflueret, et gravissimis 
vulneribus esset saucius, cursu tur- 
bam pertransiit: et stans supra 
quandam petram praeruptam, et tam 
exsanguis effectus, complexus in- 
testina sua, utrisque manibus proie- 
cit super turbas, invocans domina- 
torem vitae ac spiritus, ut haec illé 
iterum redderet: atque ita vita de- 
functus est,” 


128 THE END OF THE WORLD 


kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but 
rather fear him that can destroy both soul and 
body in hell.” ”’ He accuses the Sadducees, who 
denied the Resurrection, of ignorance. “You 
err,” he says, “not knowing the scriptures, nor 
the power of God.” ** When Martha before the 
tomb of her brother exclaimed, “I know that he 
shall rise again in the resurrection at the last 
day,” ?” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the 
life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, 
shall live.” 28 On another occasion He predicted 
that He Himself would raise the dead to life: 
“The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the 
graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God; 
and they that have done good things, shall come 
forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg- 
ment.” 2° Those who eat of the “true bread of 
heaven,” 7. e. His Body and Blood in the Holy 
Eucharist, have our Lord’s solemn promise that 


He will “raise them up in the last day.” *° 

25 Matth. X, 28: ‘ Nolite timere 28 John XI, 25: Ego sum re- 
eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam  surrectio et vita: qui credit in me, 
autem non possunt occidere: sed po- . etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet.” 
tius timete eum, qui potest et ani- 29 John V, 28. sqi: “‘... . venit 
mam et corpus perdere in gehen- hora, in qua omnes, qui im monu- 
nam.” mentis sunt, audient vocem Filit 


26 Matth, XXII, 29: “Erratis Dei: et procedent qui bona fecerunt, 
nescientes Scripturas, neque virtu- in resurrectionem vitae, qui vero 


tem Det.” mala egerunt, in vresurrectionem 
27John XI, 24: “Scio quia re- iudicti.” 
surget in resurrectione in novissimo 80John VI, 40: “Ego  resu- 


die.”’ scitabo eum in novissimo die.” 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 129 


8B) The Apostles testified both to the Resurrec- 
tion of Christ and to the General Resurrection of 
the dead, with such power that the Sadducees 
were “grieved.” ** St. Paul places the Resurrec- 
tion of the dead on the same level, as regards cer- 
tainty, with the Resurrection of our Lord: 
“Now if Christ is preached as risen from the 
dead, how say some among you that there is no 
resurrection of the dead? If there is no resur- 
rection of the dead, neither is Christ risen; 
and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preach- 
ing, vain too your faith.” ** Againhesays: “If 
the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the 
dead, dwell in you: he that raised up Jesus Christ 
from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bod- 
ies, because of his spirit that dwelleth in you.” *° 
And: “Know you not that all we who are bap- 
tized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death? 
For we are buried together with him by bap- 
tism into death; that as Christ is risen from the 
dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may 
walk in newness of life.” ** The Apostle pro- 


81 Acts IV, 2: “ Dolentes quod 
docerent populum, et annuntiarent 
in Iesu resurrectionem ex mortuts.”’ 

SeprNGor OV yt Sadi) Winhoaenates 
tem Christus praedicatur quod re- 
surrexit a mortuis, quomodo quidam 
dicunt in vobis, quoniam resurrectio 
mortuorum non est? Si autem 
resurrecttio mortuorum non est, 
neque Christus resurrexit; si autem 
Christus non resurrexit, inanis est 


ergo praedicatio nostra; inanis est 
et fides vestra.”’ 

33) Rom) VEL: 1s" Oued! st 
spivitus eius, qui suscitavit Iesum 
a mortuis, habitat in vobis, qui 
suscitavit Lesum Christum a mortuis, 
viviticabit et mortalia corpora vestra, 
propter inhabitantem Spiritum eins 
in vobis.” 

34 Rom. VI, 3 sqq.: “‘ An ignora- 
tis quia quicunque baptizati sumus 


130 THE END OF THE WORLD 


claimed the doctrine of the Resurrection before 
the. Epicureans and the Stoics,*? and courage- 
ously upheld it in the presence of Felix, the gov- 
ernor,*® and King Agrippa.*’ Hymeneus and 
Philetus were publicly denounced by him as apos- 
tates for having taught that “the resurrection is 
past already.” *° 

4. Proor From Trapition.—The Tradition 
of the early Church agrees perfectly with the 
teaching of the Bible. ‘To construe a complete 
Patristic argument for the Resurrection, “one 
would have to transcribe almost all the writings 
of the early Fathers,” *° for not only do they all 
mention the dogma occasionally, but a number of 
them (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Theophilus, 
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of 
Nyssa, Ephraem, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Am- 
brose, and others) have left special treatises on 
the subject. 


If we study the arguments of these Fathers we find that 
they embody splendid proofs for the fitness of the Res- 


urrection. Thus Minucius Felix points to the analogy 


87 Acts |) ON VL, tos) 23> 
88 2. Tim. 11,28: “.). . resurrec- 
tionem esse iam factam.’”’— The 


in Christo Iesu, in morte ipsius bap- 
tizati sumus? Consepulti enim 
sumus cum illo per baptismum im 


mortem: ut quomodo Christus sur- 
rexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, 
ita et nos in novitate vitae ambu- 
lemus.? ~CCfr: 2° Corj1V, 14; Heb. 
Vii ee): 

85 Acts XVII, 18 sqq. 

86 Acts XXIV, 15. 


Scriptural argument for the Resur- 
rection of the dead is more fully 
developed by Fr. Schmid, Der 
Unsterblichkeitsglaube in der Bibel, 
Brixen 1902. 

39 Thus Oswald, Eschatologie, p. 
288. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 131 
existing between revelation and nature. “The sun,” he 
says, “sinks down and rises, the stars pass away and 
return, the flowers die and revive again, the shrubs re- 
sume their leaves after their wintry decay, seeds do not 
flourish unless they are rotted. . . . So we, too, must wait 
for the springtime of the body.” *° 

The Fathers refute the objection that it is impossible for 
the dead to return to life by pointing to the divine 
omnipotence. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem says: “God 
created us out of nothing; why should He not be able 
to re-awaken that which is destroyed?” ** St. Irenaeus 
emphasizes the dignity of the body as the temple of 
the Holy Ghost and receptacle of the Eucharistic Christ. 
“How can it be asserted,” he asks, “ that the flesh which 
is nourished with the Body and Blood of our Lord shall 
not partake of the life?” #2 St. Clement of Rome declares 
that the body must rise again in order to be rewarded 
for the merits it has acquired here below.*? Tertullian 
argues that if there were no resurrection of the body, the 
devil would prove mightier than God and the divine econ- 
omy of grace would show a fatal defect.** 

40 Octavius, 34: “Sol demergi- 
tur et nascitur, astra labuntur et re- 


deunt, flores occidunt et revivt- 
scunt, post senium arbusta fronde- 


dvacTnces THY odpka pov ravTny 

Thy avaTAnCacay Tav’TA TWavTa. 
44 De Resurrectione Carnis, c. 46: 

“* Diabolus validior in hominem intel- 


scunt, semina nonmsi corrupta re- 
viviscunt. . . . Expectandum nobis 
etiam corporis ver est.” 

41 Catech., 18. 

42 Adv. Haeres., IV, 18: “ Quo- 
modo dicunt, carnem non percipere 
vitam, qua corpore Domini et san- 
guine alitur?’’ (Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, 
The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp. 71 sq.). 

43 Ep. ad Corinth. I, 25: kak 


legitur totum eum elidens, Deus in- 
firmior renuntiabitur non totum re- 
levans. Atqui et Apostolus suggertt, 
ubi delictum abundaverit, illic gra- 
tiam abundasse.’’— Cfr. G. Scheurer, 
Das Auferstehungsdogma der vorni- 
gdnischen Zeit, Witrzburg 1896; H. 
Kihn, Patrologie, Vol. I, pp. 172 
sqq., 289 sqq.; Vol. II, pp. 160, 470 
et passim, Paderborn 1904-1908. 


SECTION: 2 
UNIVERSALITY OF THE RESURRECTION 


1) Phe Catholic, “Church teaches that) ion 
the Last Day all men shall rise in the flesh,— 
the just to be rewarded with eternal life, the 
wicked to be punished with eternal death. 

Though the early creeds stress the fate of the 
just, the Church has never permitted her chil- 
dren to doubt that the wicked also will rise in the 
flesh. The so-called Athanasian Creed says: 
“All men shall rise again with their bodies, and 
shall give an account of their works; and they that 
have done good shall go into life everlasting, and 
they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.” * 

The Fourth Council of the Lateran defines: 
“All men shall rise again with their own bodies, 
which they now have, to receive according to 
their deeds, whether good or bad: the latter, 
everlasting punishment with the devil, the former, 
eternal glory with the Lord.” * Hence it is an ar- 


1Cfr. the Symbolum Nicaenum as bus suis, ete.’ (Denzinger-Bann- 
revised at Constantinople: ‘“‘ Ht ex- wart, n. 40). 
pecto resurrectionem mortuorum et 3“ Omnes cum suis propriis re- 
vitam venturi saeculi.”  surgent corporibus, quae nunc ge- 
2“ Omnes homines resurgere ha- stant, ut recipiant secundum opera 
bent [i. e. resurgent] cum corpori- sua, sive bona fuerint sive mala; illi 


132 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 133 


ticle of faith that the souls of the damned as well 
as those of the Elect will be reunited to their 
bodies on the last day. 

a) This teaching can be convincingly demon- 
strated from Holy Scripture. Cir. Dan, X11, 2: 
“And many of those that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and 
others unto reproach, to see it always.” * Our 
Lord Himself says: ‘They that have done good 
things shall come forth unto the resurrection of 
life; but they that have done evil, unto the res- 
urrection of judgment.” ° St. John writes in the 
Apocalypse: “And the dead were judged by 
those things which were written in the books, ac- 
cording to their works. And the sea gave up 
the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave 
up their dead that were in them; and they were 
judged every one according to their works. And 
hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. 
This is the second death. And whosoever was 
not found written in the book of life, was cast 


into the pool of fire.” ® 


cum diabolo poenam perpetuam, et 
asti cum Christo gloriam sempiter- 
nam.’ (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 429). 

4Dan. XII, 2: “ Et multi de his, 
qui dormiunt in terrae pulvere, evt- 
gilabunt: ali in’ vitam aeternam, et 
alii in opprobrium ut videant sem- 
per.” 

5 Toa. 4 V;, 220: 
bona fecerunt, in 


* Procedent qui 
resurrectionem 


St. Paul, when brought 


vitae: qui vero mala egerunt in re- 
surrectionem wdici.”’ 

CA Poh WWM, Ln2ie Sd ausiny mune Ler 
iudicatti sunt mortut ex his, quae 
scripta evant in libris secundum opera 
ipsorum. Et dedit mare mortuos, qui 
in eo evant: et mors et infernus de- 
derunt mortuos suos, qui in ipsis 
evant: et iudicatum est de singulis 
secundum opera ipsorum. Et in- 
fernus et mors missi sunt in stag- 


134 THE END OF THE WORLD 


before Felix, the governor, openly professed his 
belief in ‘a resurrection of the just and the un- 
quate ae 


A difficulty has been raised in view of Ps. I, 5: 
“ Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment.” ® 
But this difficulty is apparent rather than real. The 
Royal Psalmist does not except the wicked from the Gen- 
eral Resurrection; he merely wishes to say that they will 
be unable to stand judgment. This is clearly apparent 
from the Hebrew text, which says: ‘‘ The wicked shall 
not stand, but be as dust which the wind driveth from 
the face of the earth.” 


b) Though the Fathers devote more attention 
to the Resurrection of the just, there can be no 
reasonable doubt that they believed also in the 
Resurrection of the wicked. 


Clement of Rome admonishes the Corinthians: ‘ Keep 
the flesh pure and the seal undefiled, that we may obtain 
eternal life, and let none of you say that this flesh 
is not judged and does not rise again.” ® His meaning 
evidently is that impurity will be punished, as purity is 
rewarded, in the flesh. Tertullian testifies to the early 
belief in Christ’s return to judge the wicked and the just, 
rewarding the latter with eternal life and punishing the 


num ignis.’—On the “ Book of impti in tiudicio.” 


Life ” see Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Ac- 
tual and Habitual, pp. 192 sq. 
TANCES EXOD VE PUT Gina nr ESUET 2 
rectionem futuram iwstorum et in- 
iquorum (dStkalwy re Kal ddikwy).” 
8 Ps. I, 5: “Jdeo non resurgent 


9II Ep. ad Corinth., 8, 6-9, 1: 
THpNoATE THY odpKa ayvHy Kat THY 
oppayida daomindov, tva rHv alwviov 
fwhv  dmo\dBwpyev xat 
AeyeTw Tis tuwv, Bre abrm h caps 
ov Kplverat ovd€ avlorarat 


RESURRECTION: OFF HES FLESH 135 


former with eternal fire, after they have all arisen from 
the dead and resumed their bodies.*° 


c) Though reason cannot prove the necessity 
of the Resurrection, it can show its congruity. 


“Tt is against the nature of the soul,” says St. Thomas, 
“to be without the body. But nothing that is against na- 
ture can be lasting. Therefore the soul will not be for- 
ever without the body. Thus the immortality of the 
soul seems to require the resurrection of the body.” ** 
However, this argument must not be strained. It does 
not prove the impossibility of an eternal separation be- 
tween body and soul. If it did, a natural resurrection of 
the flesh would have to be postulated for the pure state 
of nature, and the dogma of the Resurrection could be 
conclusively proved from philosophy. Some Catholic 
writers have indeed asserted this to be sot? Schee- 
ben shatters their arguments by showing the essentially 
supernatural character of the Resurrection.** Man has 
no natural claim to be restored to life after death, least 
of all in a transfigured body, and to say that God might 
allow the souls of the dead to live forever without their 
bodies involves no. contradiction, either against the order 


10 De Praescript., 13: ‘‘Credimus petuo maneat [quia tmmortalis], 


... Christum venturum cum clari- 
tate ad iudicandos sanctos in vitae 
aeternae et promissorum caelestium 
fructum, et ad profanos adiudicandos 
igni aeterno facta utrisque partis 
vesurrectione cum restitutione car- 
nis.” 

11 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 79: 
* Est contra naturam animae absque 
corpore esse. Nihil autem, quod est 
contra naturam, potest esse perpetu- 
um. Non igitur perpetuo erit anima 
absque corpore. Quum igitur per- 


oportet eam corpori iterato coniun- 
gere, quod est resurgere.’— Cfr. 
Rickaby, God and His Creatures, p. 
403. 

12 Notably A. Feretti (Philosophia 
Moralis, pp. 88 sqq., Rome 1887) 
and Costa-Rossetti (Philosophia 
Moralis, 2nd ed., pp. 42 sq., Inns- 
bruck 1886). 

18 Die Mysterien des Christentums, 
3rd _ed., pp. 591 sqq., Freiburg 
1912. 


136 THE END OF THE WORLD 


of nature or against any divine attribute.** The souls 
of the Old Testament patriarchs have been. living 
without their bodies for several thousand years and will 
continue in a disembodied state until the day of Judgment. 
There is no reason for assuming that they could not 
exist in this way forever. 

A second argument for the congruity of the Resurrec- 
tion is derived from the attribute of divine justice and 
may be tersely formulated as follows: ‘“ Reward and pun- 
ishment are due to men both in soul and body. But 
in this life they cannot attain to the reward of final hap- 
piness, and sins often go unpunished: nay, here ‘the 
wicked live, and are comforted and set up with riches’ 
(Job XXI, 7). There must, then, be a second union of 
soul and body, that man may be rewarded and punished 
A DOU st 

2. In conclusion we may add a few words concerning 
the raising of Lazarus and other dead persons by Christ 
during His earthly sojourn, and similar miracles per- 
formed by Saints. The persons thus miraculously raised 
were restored to life only to die again, and now await 
their final resurrection with the remainder of humanity. 

Some doubt exists with regard to the saints who came 
forth bodily from their graves at the death of our Sa- 
viour..6 There have been theologians who thought that 
these privileged persons anticipated, as it were, the Gen- 
eral Resurrection and ascended to Heaven with Christ; 
others (e. g. Theodoret and St. Augustine) hold the more 


14 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa 16° Gir) je Matth don Oy LES s2hesqs 


Theol., Supplement., qu. 75, art. 3.  ‘‘ Monuwmenta aperta sunt et mulia 

15 St. Thomas, Summa _ contra corpora sanctorum, quit dormierant, 
Gentiles, IV, 79: ‘‘ Necessarium  surrexerunt; et exeuntes de monu- 
est, ponere iteratam ad corpus con- mentis post resurrectionem els, 


iunctionem, ut homo in corpore et venerunt in sanctam civitatem et 
anima praemiari et puniri possit.”? apparuerunt multis.” 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 137 


probable opinion that they were revived only for a time 
and died again. This latter theory is preferable to the — 
former because it agrees with the Catholic belief that the 
bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an alto- 
gether unique privilege.*’ 


17 See Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, pp, 105 sqq. 


SECTION 3 


NATURE OF THE RISEN BODY 


The body that will be reunited to the soul at the 
Resurrection will be identical with the one in- 
habited by the soul on earth. 

1. ProoF FROM REVELATION.—The Eleventh 
Council of Toledo says: “We believe that we 
shall arise, clothed not in air or some other flesh, 
but in the self-same [flesh] in which we [now] 
live, exist, and move.” ? The so-called Creed of 
Leo IX, which is still employed in the consecra- 
tion rite of bishops, contains this passage: “I be- 
lieve also in the true resurrection of the same 
flesh which I now have.” The Fourth Council 
of the Lateran defines: ‘‘All men will rise again 
with their own bodies [the same] which they now 
have," 

a) The Biblical argument for this dogma is 
based on the same texts that prove the Resur- 


1“ Nec in aéra vel qualibet alia gesto.” (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 
carne, ut quidam delirant, surrectu- 347). 
ros nos credimus, sed in ista, qua 8“ Omnes cum suis propriis re- 
vivimus, consistimus et movemur.”  surgent corporibus, quae nunc ge- 
(Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 287). stant.’ (Denzinger-Bannwart, bale 
2“ Credo etiam veram resurrec- 429). 
tionem eiusdem carnis, quam nunc 


138 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 139 


rection, especially the vision of Ezechiel and the 
passage from Job which we have quoted above." 


Where Sacred Scripture does not expressly assert the 
identity of the risen body with that inhabited by the soul 
before death, it takes this identity for granted. For a 
man to rise again in a strange body would not be a 
true resurrection. ‘“ We cannot speak of a resurrection,” 
says St. Thomas, “unless the soul returns to the same 
body, because resurrection signifies a new rising. To 
rise and to fall belong to the same subject, ... and 
hence, if the soul did not resume the same body, there 
would be no resurrection, but rather the assumption 
of a new body.”® St. Paul writes: “ For this corrupti- 
ble [body] must needs put on incorruption, and this 
mortal [body] immortality.”° Consequently, it is one 
and the same body which, having been corruptible and 
mortal in this life, becomes incorruptible and immortal 
after the Resurrection. 


b) The Fathers conceived the Resurrection of 
the flesh as a reawakening or restoration of the 
body formerly inhabited by the soul, and re- 
jected the contrary teaching of the Origenists. 
St. Jerome says: “As Christ arose in that body 
which lay with us in the sacred sepulchre, so we, 
on the day of judgment, shall arise in the same 


4V. supra, Sect. 1. resumit, non dicitur resurrectio, sed 

5 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. magis novi corporis assumptio.”’ 
79; art. 1: “Non enim resurrectio 61 Cor. XV, 53: “ Oportet enim 
dict potest, nisi anima ad idem cor- corruptible hoc (rd pbaprov 
pus redeat, quia resurrectio est tte- Touro) induere incorruptionem et 
rata surrectio. Eiusdem autem est mortale hoc (rd Ovnroy TovTO) im- 
surgere et cadere,... et ita, si  duere immortalitatem.”’ 


non est idem corpus, quod anima 


140 THE END OF THE WORLD 


bodies by which we are surrounded and with 
which we are buried.”’* The Patristic teaching 
that holy Communion is a pledge of the Resurrec- 
tion would be meaningless if the risen body were 
not identical with the one the soul inhabits on 
earth. 


Tradition expressed itself practically in the solemn 
burial rite of the Church, the liturgical prayers recited for 
the dead, the respect shown to corpses, and especially the 
veneration exhibited towards the bodies of saints and 
their relics.® 


2. SPECULATIVE DiIscuSSION OF THE DOGMA. 
—Speculative theology strives to understand the 
dogma more fully and to answer some of the 
questions that arise concerning the identity and 
integrity of the risen body and its functions. 

a) As regards the zdentity of the risen body, 
it must be taken neither in too broad nor in too 
limited a sense. 


Durandus declared that identity of soul is sufficient to 
constitute identity of person, and that the risen body may 
be composed of matter entirely different from that which 
constituted it during life. But would an entirely new 
body be really and truly “my body”? If my soul were to 
inhabit an entirely new body, should I not, on the contrary, 
be a different person, at least materially? The Church 


TEp., 61: “ Sicut surrexit Domi- 8 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, 
nus in corpore, quod apud nos in pp. 153 sqq.— The argument from 
sacro sepulcro conditum tacutt, ita the monuments of the early Church 
et nos in ipsis corporibus, quibus is well developed by Katschthaler, 
circumdamur et sepelimur, in die  Eschatologia, pp. 448 sqq., Ratisbon 
iudicit surrecturt sumus.” 1888. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 141 
declares that after the Resurrection man will not only 
be of the same species as before, but identically the 
same individual. It makes no difference whether this 
identity is conceived in accordance with the hylomorphic 
system of Aristotle and St. Thomas, or the modern atomic 
theory, as long as the reality of matter is admitted. 

Nor, again, must the identity of the risen body be con- 
ceived too narrowly. Of course, corporeal individuality is 
not to be gauged by a mathematical standard. Infants 
and old men will probably not arise exactly as they died, 
but in a more perfect form. Moreover, we know that in 
consequence of the process technically called metabolism, 
the human body changes its material composition every 
seven years or so. Hence there can be no absolute bodily 
identity even in this life. Nor need the identity of the 
risen with the earthly body be conceived as absolute. 
“What does not bar numerical unity in a man while he 
lives on uninterruptedly,” says St. Thomas, “clearly can 
be no bar to the identity of the risen man with the man 
that was. In a man’s body while he lives, there are not 
always the same parts in respect of matter, but only in 
respect of species. In respect of matter there is a flux 
and reflux of parts: still that fact does not bar the man’s 
numerical unity from the beginning to the end of his 
fica: 

It has been objected that, as the same matter enters suc- 
cessively into the composition of different men, many indi- 
viduals, especially savages addicted to anthropophagy, will 
have to fight for their bodies at the Resurrection. But 


secundum materiam, sed solum se- 


- 9 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 81: 
“Quod non impedit unitatem secun- 
dum numerum in homine, dum com- 
tinue vivit, manifestum est quod non 
potest impedire unitatem resurgentis. 
In corpore autem hominis, quamdiu 
vivit, non semper sunt eaedem partes 


cundum speciem. Secundum vero 
materiam partes fluunt et refluunt, 
nec propter hoc impeditur, quin homo 
sit unus numero a principio vitae 
usque in finem.” 


142 THE END OF THE WORLD 


this objection is unworthy of serious consideration. God 
in His omnipotence and wisdom can surely find ways and 
means of restoring to every man his own body.?° 


b) The integrity of the risen body offers a real 
difficulty, owing to the fact that many men are 
mutilated before they die, while others (monstra) 
never enjoy the possession of a normal physique. 


St. Augustine says on this subject: “ As the members 
appertain to the integrity of human nature, they shall 
all be restored together; for they who were either blind 
from birth, or who lost their sight on account of some dis- 
ease, the lame, the maimed, and the paralyzed, shall rise 


again with an entire and perfect body.’ *? The same 
holy Doctor expresses the expectation that “ whatever 
old age or disease has wasted in the body . . . shall be re- 


paired by the divine power of Christ,” 7° and that the 
body will be raised, not in an immature or decrepit con- 
dition, but as it appeared in the prime of life.* How- 
ever, these are mere conjectures. We have no positive 
knowledge whatever on the subject. 

Certain theologians hold that the bodies of the risen 
will be either asexual or all of the male gender. This 
opinion is untenable for the reason that the distinction of 
sex appertains both to the integrity and the identity of the 
individual 14 and also because our Lord seems to take the 
omnino manct et quibusvis membris 
debiles integro ac perfecto corpore 


resurgent.’ This teaching was em- 
bodied in the Catechism of the 


10 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa con- 
tra Gentiles, IV, 81. 

11 Enchiridion, ec 89: ‘* Quo- 
niam membra ad veritatem humanae 


naturae pertinent, simul restituentur 
omnia. Qui enim vel ab ipso ortu 
oculis capti sunt vel ob aliquem mor- 
bum lumina amiserunt, claudi aique 


CounetlofTrentyibs ic, 12.0n7 9. 
12 De Civitate Dei, XXII, 19. 
18 Ibid., XXII, 16. 

14 Cir, (Gen. I, (27,35. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 143 


continued existence of sex for granted when He says: 
“In the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be mar- 
ried.” *? In Eph. TV, 13: Until we all’ meet! and-at- | 
tain to the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of 
God, even to a perfect man, to the measure of the full 
stature of Christ,’ *° the context shows that the Apostle 
speaks of that perfect manhood which the soul is destined 
to attain in the life beyond. He does not mean, as St. 
Thomas notes, that when the risen go forth to meet 
Christ, they shall all be of the male sex, but merely desires 
to foreshadow the perfection and strength of the Church, 
which shall be like that of a full-grown man.1* 


c) Of the bodily functions all those that per- 
tain to the vegetative life will cease in the next 
world. 


Nutrition and propagation are incompatible with the 
status termim. Moreover, Christ Himself expressly re- 
pudiated the idea of a Mohammedan paradise. Cer. 
Matth. XXII, 30: “Inthe resurrection they shall neither 
marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in 
heaven,’ *® that is to say, though the distinction-of sex 
remains, its functions will cease. 

Scripture often likens Heaven to a banquet, at which 
all men will sit down to feast with the Patriarchs. This 
is a mere allegory, designed to illustrate the happiness 
of the Elect. St. Paul says: “ Food is for the belly, 


15 Matth. XXII, 30: “In resur- ram aetatis plenitudinis Christi.’ 


rectione enim neque nubent, neque 17 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 88. 
nubentur .. .” 18 Matth. XXII, 30: “ In resur- 
16 Eph. IV, 13: ‘* Donec occur-  vrectione enim neque nubent 


ramus omnes in. unitatem fidei, et (yauovouv), neque nubentur (yal: 
agnitionis Filit Det in virum perfec- fovra.): sed erunt sicut angeli Dei 
tum (eis dvdpa Tédevoy) im mensu- in caelo,” 


144 THE END OF THE WORLD 


and the belly for food; still, God will end both the one 
and the other.” 29 This cannot mean that the organs of 
digestion and assimilation will be destroyed, for they be- 
long to the integrity of the body,— but that they will no 
longer exercise their functions. 

As regards the senses, the eyes and ears will no doubt 
continue to exercise their functions, the former by en- 
joying the sight of the God-man, the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
and the Saints, the latter by listening to the conversation 
of the Blessed and drinking in their paeans of praise and 
exultation.”° 

What some theologians say concerning delicious odors, 
essences, etc., enjoyed by the Elect is pure speculation 
with no basis in fact. 


3. THE Four TRANSCENDENT ENDOWMENTS 
OR QUALITIES OF THE RISEN BODIES OF THE 
SAINTs.—In addition to the natural characteris- 
tics of identity and integrity common to all risen 
bodies, the glorified bodies of the Elect will enjoy 
four supernatural qualities, vig.: impassibility, 
brightness, agility, and subtility. 

a) Impassibility (dmpassibilitas, é¢apoia) puts 
the bodies of the Elect beyond the reach of death, 
pain, and discomfort. 1 Cor. XV, 53: “This 
mortal body must needs put on incorruption.” *? 
Apoc. XXI, 4: “God shall wipe away every tear 
from their eyes, and death shall be no more, 


191 Cor. VI, 13: ‘“‘ Esca ventri 21: 4;°Cor. ; &V5i1533)0e0 | and FO 
et venter escis, Deus autem et hunc gOaprdoy rovto évdtcacba: adbap 
et has destruet.” ciav. 


20 Cfr. Lessius, De Summo Bono, 
III, n. 100. 


RESURRECTION’ OF SPE PLES 145 


neither shall mourning or wailing or pain be any. 
‘more, because the first things are passed away.”’ 


The term d@Oapoia, as employed by St. Paul, signifies 
something more than “incorruption.”’ The bodies of the 
wicked, too, are after a fashion “ incorruptible,’ but they 
are by no means impassible. Impassibility is a peculiar- 
ity of the glorified body. Whether it is a positive quality 
imparted to the soul by God, or results from the expulsion 
of the active and passive factors responsible for pain and 
suffering, we are unable to say. All that we know for 
certain is that the bodies of the Saints will be incapable of 
suffering. St. Thomas ascribes this supernatural im- 
passibility to the complete and perfect dominion exercised 
by the soul over the body, whereby the latter is effec- 
tively protected against all harmful influences both from 
within and without.” 


b) The second quality of the glorified body 
is a certain brightness (claritas, §&«) that will 
cause the just, in the words of our Saviour Him- 
self, to “shine as the sun.” ** 


This prerogative was foreshadowed in the transfigura- 
tion of Christ on Mount Thabor. “ Our conversation,” 
says St. Paul, “is in heaven, from whence also we look 
for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will trans- 
form the body of our lowliness, that it may be one with 
the body of his glory, by the force of that power whereby 
23 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. 


S2 ares 
24 Matth. XIII, 43: “ Tunc inst 


-22 Apoc. XXI, 4: kal é&areiWer 
6 Oeds mav Sdxpvoy and Tar 
6pOartuav avrav, kat 6 Odvaros 


> 4 ByA RA , 7 
ovK éorat ert, ote mévOos ore 
Kpavyy ovre mévos ovK éorat Ett, 
bre Ta TpaTa annrOev. 


fulgebunt sicut sol in regno Patris 
eorum,” 


146 THE END OF THE WORLD 

he is able to subject all things to himself.” 2° Elsewhere 
the Apostle intimates that the body will be transfigured 
in proportion to the light of glory which illumines the 
soul and enables it to behold the divine essence. Cfr. 1 
Cor. XV, 40 sq.: “ The glory of the heavenly is differ- 
ent from that of the earthly. There is the glory of the 
sun, and the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars; 
for star differeth from star in glory. And so it is with 
the resurrection of the dead.” ?* “ Thus,” explains St. 
Thomas, “the glory of the soul shall be perceptible in 
the glorified bedy as the color of a body enclosed in a glass 
receptacle is visible through the glass.” 27. As the wounds 
of our Divine Saviour do not disfigure His glorified 
body, but shine forth with indescribable radiance, so, we 
may assume, the scars of the blessed martyrs, far from 
marring, will rather enhance the beauty and glory of their 
transfigured bodies.*® 


c) The third quality of the glorified body is 
a certain agility (agitlitas, Sivas), by which, un- 
der the influence of the spirit, now no longer re- 
strained, the body is freed from its innate clumsi- 
ness and moves with the utmost facility in what- 
ever direction it is drawn by the soul. 


25 Phil. IJI, 20 sq.: ‘* Nostra au- 
tem conversatio in caelis est: unde 


clavitas lunae, et alia clanitas stella- 
rum. Stella enim a stella differt in 


etiam Salvatorem expectamus Domu- 
num nostrum TIesum Christum, qui 
vyeformabit corpus humilitatis nostree, 
configuratum corpori claritatis suae, 


secundum operationem, qua etiam 
possit subiicere sibi omnia.” 
26 Cor XV ONAO SG eU) aie pale nee 


quidem caelestium gloria, alia autem 
terrestrium: alia claritas solis, alia 


claritate: sic et. vresurrectio mortuo- 
yum,’ 

27 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu. 
85, art. 1: ‘“‘ Et ita in corpore glo- 
rioso cognoscetur gloria animae, Ssic- 
ut in vitro cognoscitur color corpo- 
ris, quod continetur in vase vitreo.” 

28 Cfr. St. Thomas, Supplement., 
qt) 82, carts 1, (ads. 


RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 147 


The body of our Lord after the Resurrection was no 
longer subject to the limitations of space. Similarly the 
transfigured bodies of the Saints will be able to move 
from place to place, from planet to planet, from star to 
star, with the utmost ease and celerity. St. Thomas as- 
cribes this ability to the fact that in the glorified body the 
soul is free to exercise its functions as the substantial form 
and motive power (vis motrix).”° 

Can the Blessed move from place to place in a time- 
less moment, that is, without passing through the inter- 
vening space? This purely philosophical question is an- 
swered negatively by the Angelic Doctor. “The glori- 
fied body,” he says, “ moves in time, but imperceptibly be- 
cause of its quickness.” °° Suarez *! takes the opposite 
view and supports it with certain utterances of the Fa- 
thers. The metaphysical possibility of such unhampered 
motion depends on the nature of time and space. 


d) The fourth and last quality of the trans- 
figured body is subtility (subtilitas s. spirituali- 
tas). This property does not imply that the glori- 
fied body (cpa mveparndy) is imperceptible to the 
senses, or that it is transformed into spirit? The 
body merely enters into the full possession of 
grace and participates in the higher life of the 
soul to such an extent that it may be said to be al- 
most spiritualized. : 


The soul is filled with the divine pneuma, which, as 
the principle of supernatural life, assumes into itself the 


29 Op. cit., qu. 84, art. 1. 31 De Myst. Vitae Christi, disp. 
30 Ibid.: ‘‘ Corpus gloriosum 48, sect. 4. 
movetur in tempore, sed impercepts- 32 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 


biliter propter brevitatem.’ Supplement., qu. 83, art. 6. 


148 THE END OF THE WORLD 


life of the body and raises it to its own level. The 
soul is no longer subject to death and suffering and no 
longer depends on material objects for the processes of 
nourishment and acquiring knowledge. The body be- 
comes absolutely subject to the spirit, and the former con- 
flict between the two is at an end. 

It is a controverted question whether the transfigured 
bodies of the Blessed, by virtue of this supernatural gift 
of subtility, can penetrate one another, 7. e. occupy the 
same space. Most authors hold that they are endowed 
with mechanical compenetrabilitas, i. e. the capability of 
mutual penetration. That this is metaphysically possible 
we know from the fact that Christ after the Resurrec- 
tion passed through the walls of the sepulchre and the 
closed doors of the council chamber without let or hind- 
rance. St. Thomas ascribes this prerogative to a special 
act of divine omnipotence,?? whereas Suarez ** thinks it 
may be explained as a natural effect of the spirituality of 
the transfigured body. 


ReApincs : — E. Ramers, Des Origenes Lehre von der Auferste- 
hung des Fleisches, Treves 1851.—M. Seisenberger, Die Lehre 
von der Auferstehung des Fleisches, Ratisbon 1867.—J. Bautz, 
Die Lehre vom Auferstehungsleibe nach ihrer positiven und 
spekulativen Seite, Mayence 1877—G. Scheurer, Das Aufer- 
stehungsdogma der vornezdnischen Zeit, Wurzburg 1896.—A. 
Brinquant, La Résurrection de la Chair et les Qualités du Corps 
des Elus, Paris 1899—*F. Schmid, Der Unsterblichkeits- und 
Auferstehungsglaube in der Bibel, Brixen 1902.— Chadouard, La 
Philosophie du Dogme de la Résurrection de la Chair au 2e 
Siécle, Paris 1905— A. J. Maas, S.J., art. “ Resurrection,” in the 
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, pp. 792 sq—B. J. Otten, S.J., 
History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918, pp. 418 sqq. 


33 Cfr. St. Thomas, op. cit., qu. 34 De Myst. Vitae Christi, disp. 
83, art... 2. 48, sect. 5, n. 16. 2 


CHAR TER SIT} 
THE LAST JUDGMENT 
SEOTIONG! 
REALITY OF THE LAST JUDGMENT 


1. THE DOGMA IN SACRED SCRIPTURE AND 
TRADITION.—Aside from the great conflagra- 
tion which is to destroy the earth, the General 
Judgment (tudicium universale) will be the last 
important event in the history of the human race. 
This event is so intimately connected with the 
Resurrection of the dead, that no room remains 
for a terrestrial reign of Christ and His saints 
(millennium) which, the Chiliasts hold, is to 
precede the end of the world. That there 
will be a General Judgment, held by Jesus Christ 
in Person, has alwavs been an article of faith in 
the Catholic Church, as may be seen from the 
ancient creeds. The Apostles’ Creed expresses 
this belief in the words: “From whence He 
[Christ] shall come, to judge the living and the 
dead.” 

a) Few truths are more clearly and insistently 

149 


150 THE END OF THE WORLD 


proclaimed in Scripture than this. The New 
Testament in particular speaks time and again of 
the “second coming” of Christ as the Universal 
Judge, in opposition to His “first coming” as the 
Redeemer. This “second coming” is commonly 
called parousia, 1. e. advent;* sometimes ‘‘epi- 
phany” (ém¢ave), 7, e. apparition,” and sometimes 
“apocalypse” (doxédAvus), 7, e. revelation.2 Our 
Lord Himself predicted the General Judgment,‘ 
and the Apostles echoed His teaching. We have 
already quoted St. Paul. St. James says: “Be 
patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of 
the Lord. . . . Grudge not one against another, 
that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge 
standeth before the door.”® St. Peter writes: 
“The. day of the ord,shall come.as'a thief; /. : 
what manner of people ought you to be in holy 
conversation and godliness, looking for and hast- 
ing unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by 
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, 
and the elements shall melt with the burning 
heat.) 

b) Though the writings of the Apostolic Fa- 


Ecce itudex ante tanuam assisttt.’’ 


WTEC ORNs each Teh HESS Wik b mQs 
and elsewhere. 

Qo Thess. Lt) 83a 0 aim, vil. tide 2 
Mam Views se Lite mabe se 

8:2) Thess. 1). /7.saPet. DV, 13: 

4 Matth. XXIV, 27 sqq.; XXV, 31 
sqq. 

5 lac. V, 7 sqq.: ‘“ Patientes igitur 
estote fratres usque ad adventum 
Domini. ... . Nolite ingemiscere fra- 
tres in alteruitrum, ut non twmdicemini. 


62 Pet. ITI, 10 sqq.: ‘* Adveniet 
autem dies Domini ut furs... 
quales oportet vos esse in sanctis 
conversationibus et pietatibus, ex- 
pectantes et properantes in adventum 
diet Domini, per quem caeli ardentes 
soluventur, et elementa ignis ardore 
tabescent?’’ Cfr. Apoc. XX, 11 
sqq.; additional scriptural texts in- 
Fra;iNo. 2: 


THE LAST JUDGMENT 151 


thers are tinged with Chiliastic views,’ the dogma 
of the Last Judgment has a solid Patristical 
foundation. Clement of Rome refers to Christ as 
“judge of the living and the dead.” * In the so- 
called Epistle of Barnabas we read that the Son 
of God is “destined to judge the living and the 
dead.” Tertullian” writes :' “Christ will | re- 
turn on the clouds of heaven, the same as He 
arOseyi 

2. CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THE  GEN- 
ERAL JUDGMENT.—Sacred Scripture expressly 
mentions certain features of the General Judg- 
ment. 


a) Our Lord Jesus Christ will conduct the trial 
in person,’ John’\V, 222)" The ‘Pathers..o ‘hathwgiven 
all judgment to the Son.”** He will be assisted by 
the angels. Matth. XXIV, 31: “[The Son of man] 
shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice, 
and they shall gather together his elect from the four 
winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the 
utmost bounds of them.” ” 

b) The site of the Last Judgment, according to the 
prophet Joel, will be the valley of Josaphat..* St. Paul 


“Et mit- 


7V. infra, Sect. 2. 
8xpitov (wvTwy Kal 
(Epist. ad Corinth., I, 2, 1). 

9uéAAwy Kpivery (@vras Kal 
vexpots. (Ep. Barnab., VII, 1). 

10) Ady. Prax.) ic)’ 30:)) “Christus 
venturus est rursus super nubes cae- 
li, qualis et ascendit.’” 

PIR POA Vee a LELten nace 
iudicium dedit Filio.” 


VEKPWD- 


omne 


12 Matthys) XX Voi ier: 
tet angelos suos cum tuba et voce 
magna, et congregabunt electos eius a 
quattuor ventis, a summis caelorum 
usque ad terminos eorum.’ (Cfr. 
ft) Cor XV 5 S230 hess Vi57 5): 

13 Joel III, 2: “ Congregabo 
omnes gentes et deducam eas in 
vallem Iosaphat.”’— Cath, Encycl., 
Vol, VIII, pe 503 


152 THE END OF THE WORLD 

says the newly risen shall be ‘taken up in the clouds 
to meet Christ;’’1* whence some commentators infer 
that the judgment will be held in the air. 

c) Immediately before the second coming of Christ, 
“the sign of the Son of man” will appear in the heav- 
ens.° What may this sign be? Some Fathers think it 
is the cross on which our Saviour died, others, that a 
miraculous light will appear in the air. Neither inter- 
pretation is certain. 

d) Finally our Lord Himself will “ come in the clouds 
of heaven with much power and majesty.” 7° 

e) All men without exception, the just as well as the 
wicked, will appear before His judgment seat. Matth. 
XXV, 32: “All nations shall be gathered together be- 
fore him, and he shall separate them one from another, 
as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.” 37 
Rom. XIV, 10: “ We shall all stand before the judgment 
seat of Christ,” ** 

Baptized infants who have done neither good nor evil 
will also appear, not, however, to be judged, but to behold 
the glory of the Judge.t® The unbaptized will probably 
appear in order to be convinced of the justice of God in 
denying them the beatific vision.” 

As for the pure spirits, the angels and demons, though 
they are already judged, will participate in the Gen- 
eral Judgment to receive the accidental rewards which 


14QOn the Eschatology of St. gregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes, 


Paul see C. Lattey, S.J., in his ap- 
pendix to Thessalonians in the 
Westminster Version, pp. 17 sqq. 

15 Matth. XXIV, 30: “ Et tunc 
parebit signum Filit hominis in 
caelo.”’ 

16 Ibid.: “ Videbunt Filium ho- 
minis venientem in nubibus cael cum 
virtute multa et maiestate.’’ 

tt Matth. *- XXV57sg2siin At) cont 


et separabit eos ab imvicem, sicut 
pastor segregat oves ab hoedis.”’ 

18 Rom. XIV, 10: ‘“‘ Omnes enim 
stabimus ante tribunal Christi.” 

19 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 
Supplement., qu. 89, art. 5, ad 3: 
“. . non ut iudicentur, sed ut vt- 
deant gloriam iudicis.” 

20 Suarez, 


THE LAST JUDGMENT 153. 
they have merited or the punishments they have incurred 
by unduly influencing the course of human events.” 

f) The twelve Apostles will sit in judgment over 
the tribes of Israel.2? It is probable that the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, the prophets of the Old Testament, John 
the Baptist, and other saints will also assist the Great 
Judge2* 

g) The judgment itself will embrace all the works of 
man, good and evil, thoughts, words, and deeds.24 This 
is necessary to manifest the mysterious dispensations of 
Providence and the justice and glory of the Universal 
Judge.”° It is prudent to hold with St. Thomas 7 and the 
majority of Catholic theologians that the forgiven secret 
sins of the just will also be revealed on the Last Day, in 
order that the judgment may be made complete and the 
justice and mercy of God glorified. 

h) With regard to the form of the Last Judgment ob- 
serve that such expressions as the separation of the goats 
from the sheep, the just standing on the right and the 
wicked on the left hand of the Judge, etc.,?” may be alle- 
gorical. Their object probably is to show that the con- 
duct and deserts of every man will become clearly appar- 
ent to his own conscience and to the whole world. To 
interpret these texts literally would hardly do, for the rea- 
son that, as St. Thomas points out,” such a process car- 
ried out literally would require an incalculable length of 
23 Cfr.- St. Thomas, Summa 


Theol., Supplement., qu. 99, art. 2. 
24 Cfr. Matth. XII, 36; 1 Cor. IV, 


ZA Cir te, Com ay lyst peti Lae 
4; Jude 6. (St. Thomas, Summa 
Theol., Supplement., qu. 89, art. 8). 

22Vbattiig i) Poe) YBa bees, SL Osh c 


qui secuti estis me, in regeneratione 
quum sederit Filius hominis in sede 
maiestatis suae, sedebitis et vos su- 
per sedes duodecim, iudicantes duo- 
decim tribus Israel.’ Cfr. t Cor. 
VI, 2: “An nescitis quoniam 
sancti de hoc mundo iudicabunt? ” 


25 Cfr. Suarez, De Myst. Vitae 
Christi, disp. 53, sect. 1. 

26 Supplement., qu. 87, art. 2. 

27 Cfr. Matth. XXV, 32 sqq. 

28 Supplement., qu. 88, art. 2: 
“ Inaestimabilis magnitudo temporis 
ad hoc exigeretur.” 


184 THE END OF THE WORLD 


time. Most probably the whole procedure will be over in 
a few minutes. By divine illumination every man will 
instantly comprehend the state of his own soul and that of 
his fellow-creatures. “It is likely,” says St. Basil, “ that 
by an inexpressible power, every deed we have done will 
be made manifest to us in a single moment, as if it were 
engraved on a tablet.” °° The words of the sentence, 
however, ‘“‘ Come ye blessed,” etc., will in all probability be 
actually spoken by Christ. 


29In Ioa., I, 18. 


SECTION 2 
CHILIASM, OR MILLENARIANISM 


1, Cuit1asm IN Its Two Forms.—There are 
two forms of Chiliasm or Millenarianism. The 
exaggerated form is heretical, while the more 
moderate is simply erroneous. 


a) The heretical form of Chiliasm may be traced partly 
to the Jewish expectation of a temporal Messias* and 
partly to the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament, 
which abound in fables.2,- The Chiliasts of this school con- 
ceived the millennium as a period of unbridled sensual in- 
dulgence. Eusebius the church-historian says of Cerin- 
thus, a Gnostic heretic who flourished towards the end of 
the first century: “He held that at some time in the fu- 
ture Christ would reign on earth; and as he was addicted 
to the pleasures of the flesh, he imagined that the reign of 
God would consist of such things.” * This error was 
shared by the ancient Ebionites and Apollinarianists and, 
in a somewhat more respectable form, still persists among 
the Mormons and Irvingites. 

b) Moderate Chiliasm had a number of adherents 
among Patristic writers, notably Papias, Justin Martyr, 
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Nepos, Commodian, Victorinus of 
Pettau, and Lactantius. Its favorite text was Apoc. 

1Cfr. Is. IX, 6; LXVI, 18; Joel 2Cfr. Funk, Patres Apostolict, 


III, 17; Matth. XX, 20 sq.; Acts I, II, 276 saq. 
6. 8 Hist. Eccles., III, 28: ‘‘ Haec 


155 


156 THE END OF THE WORLD 


XX, 1sqq. Papias believed that the Resurrection of the 
flesh would be followed by a glorious reign of Christ, in 
which the Saints would enjoy a superabundance of 
earthly pleasures for a thousand years. These pleasures, 
however, were to be spiritual, or at least morally licit. 
In developing this idea its champions parted ways. 
Some expected the millennium between the General Judg- 
ment and the Resurrection of the dead, while others 
believed it would occur after the General Resurrection, 
immediately before the assumption of the just into 
Heaven. A third, still more moderate group of Millena- 
rianists, which is not yet extinct, contents itself with as- 
serting that an era of universal peace and tranquillity will 
precede the second coming of Christ, to be suddenly inter- 
rupted by the great apostasy and the forerunners of Anti- 
Christ=75 * 


2, REFUTATION OF CuHILIAsM.—Chiliasm in 
both its forms is untenable. 

a) Heretical Chiliasm stands condemned in 
the light of the moral law, which excludes in- 
temperance and unchastity from the kingdom of 
Heaven.® It is blasphemous and an insult to God 
to assert that Christ, who is all-holy, will found 
an earthly paradise for libertines. No wonder 
even those Fathers and ecclesiastical writers who 
entertained Chiliastic ideas vigorously condemned 


fuit illius opinio, regnum Christi ter- Catholique selon le Plan Divin, 
venum futurum. Et quarum rerum 1890) and Rohling (Erklirung der 
cupiditate ipse flagrabat, utpote vo-  Apokalypse, 1895; Die Zukunft der 
luptatibus corporis obnoxius carnique Menschheit als Gattung, 1907) see 
addicius, in eis regnum Dei situm Scheeben-Atzberger, Dogmatik, Vol. 
fore somniavit.”’ IV, 3, p. 908. 

4On the modified Millenarianism 5 Cfr. Matth. XXII, 30; Rom. 
of Chabauty (Avenir de VEglise XIV, 17; 1 Cor. XV, 50 et passim. 


CHILIASM 157 
this grossly sensual species of Millenarianism as 
heretical. 

b) Itis not so easy to refute the more moderate 
form of Chiliasm, for it seems to have a basis 
in Sacred Scripture and primitive Tradition. 

The New Testament as well as the early creeds 
speak of the Resurrection of the flesh, the Last 
Judgment, and the end of the world in terms 
which make it apparent that these three events 
are to follow one another in close succession,® 
leaving no time for a millennium. 


a) The favorite passage of the Chiliasts is in the Apo- 
calypse and reads as follows: “And I beheld an angel 
coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of 
the bottomless pit, and a great chain. And he seized 
the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, 
and bound him for a thousand years. . . . They [2. e. the 
just] came to life again, and reigned with Christ for a 
thousand years. The rest of the dead came not to life 
until the thousand years were accomplished. This is the 
first resurrection. . . . And when the thousand years are 
accomplished, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and 
he shall come forth to lead astray the nations which are 
in the four corners of the earth . . .”7 


6 Cfr. John VI, 39; John XII, 48; 
Matth. XXIV, 14 sqq.; 1 Thess. IV, 
15 sq. 

@Apoc, XX, 1 sqaqsi» “ Bt! wide 
angelum descendentem de caelo, ha- 
bentem clavem abyssi, et catenam 
magnam in manu sua. Et appre- 
hendit draconem, serpentem anti- 
quum, qui est diabolus, et satanas, et 
ligavit eum per annos mille (xidua 
trn) ... Et vixerunt  [iustorum 


animae] et regnaverunt cum Christo 
mille annis (xldta ern). Ceteri 
mortuorum non vixerunt, donec 
consummentur mille anni (rd xidva 
érn): haec est resurrectio prima. 
... Et quum consummati fuerint 
mille anni, solvetur satanas de car- 
cere suo, et exibit, et seducet gentes, 
quae sunt super quattuor angulos 
terrae.”’ 


158 THE END OF THE WORLD 


This is undeniably one of the most difficult and obscure 
passages found in Sacred Scripture, and no one has yet ~ 
succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily. But it proves 
nothing in favor of Millenarianism, which has no claim to 
our assent unless it can show that its tenets do not conflict 
with the general teaching of the Bible. Among the more 
probable interpretations of the Johannine text suggested 
by Catholic writers we may mention that of St. Augustine, 
which was adopted by Pope St. Gregory the Great. These 
two Fathers think that the imprisonment of Satan refers 
to the first coming of our Lord, and his temporary loosing 
to His second coming (parousia) at the time of Anti- 
christ. Christ’s millennial reign with His saints on earth 
(the “first resurrection”) signifies the kingdom of 
Heaven, where the Blessed reign under the headship of 
our Lord before the “ second resurrection ”’ (i. e. the Res- 
urrection of the flesh). Similarly, the term “ first death ” 
is applied to the separation of the body from the soul, 
whereas “ second death ” refers to eternal damnation. If 
this theory is correct, the number one thousand is not to be 
taken literally, but simply indicates an indefinite period of 
considerable length. 

6) Despite appearances to the contrary, Chiliasm has 
no foundation in Tradition. Among its early advocates 
Lactantius, Nepos, Commodian, and Victorinus may, in 
the light of the Decretum Gelasianum, be set aside as 
worthless witnesses. The same could be said of Sulpi- 
cius Severus if he were to be reckoned among the Chili- 
asts, which is, however, extremely doubtful, as his ex- 
tant writings contain no trace of this error. Of the 
remaining writers who are quoted in favor of Chiliasm we 

8 The Decretum de recipiendis et synod about A. D. 494. Cfr. Barden- 
non recipiendis libris is a series of hewer-Shahan, Patrology, p. 620; 


papal decrees said to have been is- Mansi, Collect. Concil., VIII, 151, 
sued by St. Gelasius I at a Roman _ 170. 


CHILIASM 159 


may disregard Papias because he was uncritical,” and. 
Tertullian because he was a heretic when he em- 
braced Millenarianism.2? St. Justin Martyr™ and St. 
Irenaeus,2 the only two remaining witnesses who 
are absolutely trustworthy, did not inculcate Chiliasm as 
an article of faith, but merely proposed it as a personal 
opinion. Whether St. Melito, Bishop of Sardes, har- 
bored Millenarian notions, is uncertain.* St. Hippolytus, 
who is numbered among the Chiliasts by Bonwetsch,* 
has not written a single line, in the works that have come 
down to us, which must necessarily be interpreted in a 
Chiliastic sense.t®? Bonwetsch himself 1° is constrained to 
admit that Hippolytus discarded some of the eschato- 
logical notions held by Irenaeus and Tertullian. 

Among the opponents of Chiliasm were Clemens Alex- 
andrinus, Origen, and Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, 
whom Eusebius honored with the title of Great and 
St. Athanasius called a Doctor of the Catholic Church? 


Reapincs:—J. B. Paganini, Das Ende der Welt oder die 
Wiederkunft unseres Herrn, 2nd ed., Ratisbon 1882.— jie Bautz, 
Weltgericht und Weltende, Mayence 1886.— J. Sigmund, Das 
Ende der Zeiten mit einem Nachblick in die Ewigkeit, oder das 
Weltgericht mit seinen Ursachen, Vorzeichen und Folgen, Salz- 
burg 1892—J. A. McHugh in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 
VIII, pp. 552 sq.—J. Tixeront, History of Dogmas, 3 Vols., 
St. Louis 1910-1916, see Index s. v. “ Judgment.”— St. Thomas, 


S. Theol. Supplem., qu. 49-91.— B. J. Otten, S.J.. 4 Manual of 
the History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918, pp. 422 sqq. 


9 Cfr, Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., III, 
BQnor 

10 Cfr. Tertullian, Adv. Marcion., 
Til: 24; 

11 Dial. c. Tryph., c. 80 sq. 

12 Adv. Haer., V, 32 sqq. 

13 Cfr. Bardenhewer, Geschichte 
der altkirchlichen Literatur, Vol. I, 
p. 551, Freiburg 1902. 


14 Hippol. Opera, pp. 243-sq., Leip- 


sic 1897. 


15 Cfr. Atzberger, Geschichte der 
christlichen Eschatologie innerhalb 
der vornigdnischen Zeit, pp. 278 sqq.; 
Freiburg 1896. 

16 Studien gu den Kommentaren 
Hippolyts, p. 50, Leipsic 1897. 

17 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., VI, 35; 
VII, praef.; St. Athanasius, Ep. de 
Sent. Dion., c. 6. Cfr. Barden- 
hewer-Shahan, Patrology, p. 154. 


160 THE END OF THE WORLD 


On Chiliasm see H. Corrodi, Kritische Geschichte des Chilias- 
mus, 1794.— H. Klee, De Chiliasmo Primorum Saeculorum, May- 
ence 1825.— Wagner, Der Chiliasmus in den ersten J ahrhunderten, 
1849.— J. N. Schneider, Die chiliastische Doktrin und thr Ver- 
haltnis zur christlichen Glaubenslehre (pro-Chiliastic), Schaff- 
hausen 1859.— J. P. Kirsch, art. “ Millennium,” in Vol. X of the 
Catholic Encyclopedia, pp. 307-310.— Chiapelli, Le Idee Millenarie 
dei Cristiani, Naples 1888.— L. Guy, Le Millénarisme dans ses Ori- 
gines et son Développement, Paris 1904.— Franzelin, De Scriptura 
et Traditione, P. II, thes. 16, Rome 1896.— H. Kihn, Patrologie, 
Vol. I, pp. 120 sqq., Paderborn 1904.— J. Tixeront, History of 
Dogmas, Vol. I, St. Louis 1910 (see Index s.v. “ Millenarian- 
ism”).—Shirley Jackson, The Millennial Hope, Chicago 1918. 


INDE 


A 


“Abraham’s bosom,” 26. 

Acts of the Martyrs, 27. 

Adam, 6,11, 'T2. 

Aérius, 77. 

Agility as an endowment of the 
glorified body, 146 sq. 

Albigenses, 78, 122. 

Alexander VII, go. 

Ambrose, St., 10, 58, 86, 130. 

Amor beatificus, Bik 

Angels, 36, 92, 93, 99, 153, 152, 


157. 

Anselm, St., I19. 

Antichrist, T09 sqq., 156, 158. 

Apocalypse, 8 sq., 33, 47, 66, 73, 
133, 155 Sq., 157. 

Apocatastasis, 67 sqq., 122 sq. 

Apostasy, The great, 109 sq. 

Apostles, 153. 

Apostles’ Creed, 39, 92, 122. 

Appollinarianists, 155. 

Armenian heretics, 131. 

Athanasian Creed, 65, 122, 132. 

Athanasius, St., 159. 

Athenagoras, 130. 

Augustine, St., 5 sq., 8, 10, 12, 
14, 20 Sq, 33, 40, 42, 58, 65, 68, 
71, 81, 86, sq., 97, 102, 105, 136, 
142, 158. 

Aureole, 43. 


B 


Baptism, 94 sq. 

Barnabas, Epistle of, 151. 

Basil, St. 58, Si, 154: 
Beatitude, 29 sqq., 52. 
Bellarmine, Card., 36, 88, 96, 100. 
Benedict XII, 2a. 22, 30, 
Bessarion, Card, 


161 


Body, Nature of the risen, 138 
sqq.; Identity of, 140 sqq.; 
Four transcendent qualities 
of, 144 sqq. 

Boéthius, 20. 

Bonaventure, St., 

Bonwetsch, 159. 

“ Book of Judgment,” 18 sq. 

Braun, Charles (Sy 118. 

Brightness as a quality of the 
glorified body, 145 sq. 

Burying the dead, 96. 


fi 


Calvin, 10,76; 82. 
Catharinus, Ambrose, 56. 
Cerinthus, 155. 

Chiliasm, 19, 22, 149, I5I, 


15, 84. 


155 


sqq. 

Chrysostom, St., 10, 25, 48, 49, 
51, 54, 68, 95, 112. 

Clement of Alexandria, St., 87, 
88, 130, 159. 

Clement of Rome, St, 

Commodian, 155, 158. 

Communion of Saints, 36, 92 


tar 034 


sqq. 
Compenetrabilitas, 148. 
Conflagration, The universal, 
117 sqq. 
Cinstananesle Council of 


(543), 65; (553), 65, 122 sq. 
Consummation of the world, 


| 
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 50. 


Cremation, 96. 
Cyprian, St., 14, 26, 60. 
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., 97, 131. 


D 
Dante, 49, 74. 


162 


Dead, Succoring the, 92 sqq. 

Death, 5 sqq. 

Debitum mortis, 13. 

Definition of Eschatology, 1 sq. 

Degrees of happiness in 
Heaven, 40 sqq.; Of punish- 
ment in Hell, 72 sqq. 

Descent into Hell, Christ’s, 27 

Didymus the Blind, 67 sq. 

Dieringer, 88. 

Dies Domini, 108, IIo. 

Dinocrates, 81. 

Dionysius of Alexandria, 159. 

Disturbances of nature preced- 
ing the General Judgment, 
II4 sqq. 

Dives, 20, 25. 

Division of Eschatology, 2 sq. 

Dollinger, 112. 

Dotes beatorum, 37 sq. 

“Dowry” of the Blessed, 37 sq. 

Draper, 50. 

Durandus, 140. 

Duration of Purgatory, 90 sq. 


E 


Ebionites, 155. 
Ecclesiasticus, 126. 

Elias, 8 sq., 11, 107 sq., 126. 
End of the world, 117 sqq. 
Ephraem, St., 58, 130. 
Eternal punishment, 65 sqq. 
Eternity of Heaven, 39 sqq. 
Eusebius, Io sq., 155, 159. 
Evagrius of Pontus, 68. 
Evil, 32 sq. 

Ezechiel, 123 sq., 139. 


F 


Faith, 34, 38. 


Fate, I. 

Fire of Hell, 56 sqq.; Of Purga- 
tory, 85 sqq. 

Flammarion, 50. 

Florence, Council of (1439), 23, 
2A, 22), 405.78, 85: 

Four last things, 2. 


INDEX 


G 


_ Galileo, 50 sq. 


Gehenna, 45 sq. 

Gnostics, 122, 155. 

Gregory of Nazianzus, St., 68. 

Gregory of Nyssa, St., 68 sq., 71, 
130. 

Gregory the Great, St., 25, 51, 
69, 73, 87, 158. 


A 


Hase, 8&2. 

Heaven: Existence of, 28 sqq.; 
Properties of, 39 sqq. 

Hell: Existence of, 45 sqq.; Lo- 
cation of, 49 sqq.; Nature of 
punishment of, 52 sqq.; Char- 
acteristics of, 65 sqq. 

Henoch, 8 sq., 11, 107, 108 sq. 

Henry of Ghent, 58. 

Heroic act of charity, 08. 

Hesychasts, 31 sq. 

Hilary, Sti 22, 25. 

Hippolytus, St., 159. 

Hirscher, 15, 55. 

Hunter; S: J. CS.1); To. 

Hussites, 78. 

Hypnopsychites, 7, 19, 22. 


I 


Identity of the risen body, 140 


Soe 
Ignatius of Antioch, St., 41 sq., 


47. 
Immortality, 13, 16. 
Impassibility of the risen body, 


144 sq. 
Impeccability of the Blessed, 33. 
Indulgences, 96, 98. 

Integrity of the risen body, 142 
sq. 

Irenzus, St., 22, 155, 159. 

Irvingites, 155. 


J 


Jerome, St., 10, 42, 68, 106, 125, 
130. 


INDEX 163 


Jews, Conversion of the, 105 
sqq. 

Job, 124 sqq., 139. 

John XXII; -24- 

John Chrysostom, St. 
Chrysostom. 

John Damascene, 58. 

John the Baptist, 107. 183.- 

‘Jovinian, 40, 42. 

Judas Maccabzus, 79 sq. 

Judgment, Particular, 18 sqq.; 
General, 149 sqq. 

Justin Martyr, St., 22, 48, 130, 
155, 159. 


See 


K 
Karéxwv, ‘O, 112 sq. 
Kied, F. X., 55. 
Klee, 88 

iv 


Lactantius, 58, 155, 158. 
Last Judgement, 149 sqq. 
Lateran, Fourth Council of the, 


123,132, 138. 
TPatveys. Co (5.).) 1.0, 10: 
Tazatus,.20, 25, 20, 128, 130. 
Leo IX, 138. 
Leo X, 79. 


Lessius, 58. 

Life a pilgrimage, I5. 
Lombroso, 72. 

Lumen glorie, 30, 34, 42. 

_ Luther, 40, 84, 106. 

Lyons, Council of (1274), 24. 


M 


Machabees, 126 sq. 

McRory, J., 9, 94. 

Maldonatus, 9o. 

Manicheans, 122. 

Mary, BI. Virgin, 12, 13, 99, 137, 
144, 153. 

Melito of Sardes, 159. 

Merits can no longer be ac- 
quired after death, 13 sqq. 

Michael Palzeologus, 23. 


Michael, St., 90. 

Millennium, 156. 

Minucius Felix, 67, 130 sq. 
Mohler, 56, 8 

Monica, StS Sr, 

Mormons, TS5, 

Mysteries, Theological, 34 sq. 


N 


Nepos, 155, 158. 
Nero, 112. 
O 


Object of the beatific vision, 34 


sqq. 
Origen, 32, 39, 56, 65, 67, 68, 71, 
87, 122, 130, 139, 159. 
Osee, 123. 
P 


Palamites, 31 sq. 

Papias, 155 sq., 159. 

Parousia, 150 sqq., 158. : 

Paul, St., 9 sqq., 12, 14, 20, 26, 28, 
30, 34,41, 47, 60, 86, 98, 105, 

106, 108, 109, 110, III, 115, 121, 

es sq., 133 $q., 139, 143 sq., 
145, 146, 150. 

Perpetua, St., 81. 

Petavius, 68. 

Pius IX, 98. 

Poena damnit, 52 sqq., 83 sq. 

Poena sensus, 52, 56 sqq., 84 sqq. 

Polycarp,. St. 41, 67: 

Prayers for the dead, 81 sq., 92 


sqq. 

Preaching of the Christian re- 
ligion, 104 sq. 

Probation, Death ends state of, 
13 Sqq. 

Protestants, 65 sq., Ze 80, 82. 

Prudentius, St., 68, 69. 

Psychopannychy, 7: 

Ptolemaic system, 49 sq. 


Purgatory: [Existence of, 75 
sqq.; Nature and duration of, 
83 sqq. 

Ilip cwdpovovr, 67. 


R 
Razias, 127. 


164 


Reason, The dogma of eternal 
punishment not contrary to, 


69 sqq. 
Resurrection of the flesh, 121 


saqq. 
Rickaby, Jos. (S.J.), 61 sq., 119 


sq. 
Ripalda, 15. 

Roman Catechism, II. 
Rosenmiiller, 125 sq. 
Rosmini, 32. 


S 


Sadducees, 46, 122, 128, 120. 

Satanism, 55. 

Satis passio, 90. 

Scheeben, 135. 

Schell, 55. 

Schmid, Fr., 58. 

Scotists, 30, 33, 40. 

“ Second death,” 60, 158. 

Signs preceding the General 
Judgment, 103. 

Sin, 128d, 15, 32).52)sq..70.sq., 

SOG Nikos 

Soto, Dominicus, 90, 96. 

Soul-sleep, 7, 19. sq. 

Stufler, J. (S.J.), 55. 

Suarez, 60, 100, 147. 

Subtility of the glorified body, 
147 sq. 

Suffrages for the dead, 95 sqq. 

Sulpicius Severus, 158. 


T 
Tanner, 58. 


INDEX 


Tertullian, 8, 10, 22, 42, 81, 130, 
131, 134, 155, 159. ) 

Theodoret, 136. 

Thnetopsychites, 20, 22. 

Thomas, St., 11, 29, 33, 40, 42, 
52, 55 Sq., 59 sq., 60 sq., 68, 70, 
71, 72, 75, 70, 84, 89, 100, 120, 
135, 130, 141, 143, 145, 146, 147, 
148, 153. 

Thomists, 30, 60. 

Toledo, Eleventh Council of, 
122, 138. 

Toletus, 58. 

Trent, Council of, 78, 92. 

Trinity, 30, 34. 

Two witnesses, The, 8 sq. 


U 


Universality of death, 7 sqq.; 
f the Resurrection, 132 sqq. 


V 


Valentinus, 46. 

Valley of Josaphat, 151. 
Vasquez, 15. 

Victorinus of Pettau, 155, 158. 
Vindictive punishment, 71 sq. 
Vision, Beatific, 29 sqq., 52. 


W 


Wadding, 24. 
Waldenses, 78, 122. 


Deo gratias ! 


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